Twenty-three years ago, growing awareness of racial health disparities was a major topic of discussion at the SGIM Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Since then, much has been written in these pages on evolving concepts of race in medicine, confronting bias and racism in medical education, promoting just and equitable healthcare delivery, engaging in public advocacy, and confronting discrimination in academic medicine. I am proud of the legacy represented by these authors and committed to amplifying those voices who endeavor to name and dismantle systemic racism in American society and medicine. The following articles are part of SGIM Forum’s Race and Medicine Essay collection, which includes nearly two dozen articles published since 1997:
“Race”1
February 1998 | Nicole Lurie
A primary care physician decides to embrace discomfort, conducting an “n-of-1 experiment” by asking her Black patients how they feel about being cared for by a white doctor.
“Current Trends in Understanding Race and Health”2
November 2001 | Giselle Corbie-Smith
Insights from the completion of the Human Genome Project and research in the field of pharmacogenomics offer competing visions for how to address racial health disparities.
“Teaching Outside of the Box: Dealing with Bias, Stereotypes, and Racism in Medicine”3
September 2003 | Alexander Green
An attending physician reflects on his response to a resident’s biased case presentation.
“The Importance of Being Outraged”4
April 2019 | Denise L. Davis
The only under-represented minority physician in her
division embraces her outrage upon realizing that race and health equity were not on the agenda at a recent faculty retreat.
“Developing an Anti-Racist Residency Recruitment Process”5
January 2020 | Joseph Truglio, Ann-Gel S. Palermo, Leona Hess, Princess E. Dennar, and Antonia Eyssallenne
The authors describe a novel strategy to recruit a high percentage of applicants from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine, and to shift power away from the academic medical center to the patients and communities that will be cared for by residents.