Structural Racism Resources

Structural racism refers to various systems’ policies and procedures that perpetuate racial inequity among non-white individuals. Structural racism encompasses social, economic and political systems beyond the individual or singular institutional level. Health Professions Education (HPE) trains students how to care for and treat individuals, particularly focused on those in need. The Beyond Flexner Alliance calls upon health professions educators, students, and practitioners to acknowledge structural racism as the root cause of inequitable treatment, staggering health disparities, and the unequal distribution of resources. The Beyond Flexner Alliance carefully curated a non-exhaustive list of structural racism resources, shared by experts in the field, to serve as tools for deeper learning, self-evaluation and future steps.

In an effort to identify the most meaningful pieces, we utilized a guide to identify quality and useful resources based on the following five criteria: credibility of source, application of source across various professions, quality of explanation of the subject, ability of the source to provide a deeper understanding of the subject, and ability of the source to provide actionable next steps.

These resources are a good starting point on structural racism. If there are resources you would like us to consider for this list, please contact us at info@beyondflexner.org

Key Publications

This section includes Social mission related peer-reviewed articles. In this section, you have the opportunity to explore resources that have been categorized by our Beyond Flexner members.

Literature

Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race–ethnicity, and sex: This research article describes the lifetime risk of being killed by police patterned by race, gender and age. The inequality of mortality risk experienced by black men is identified as a public health issue demonstrating the need for community-based services and police reform.
Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics: This article aims to describe the intersections of race and sex by analyzing the experience of the Black Woman as multidimensionally oppressed.
“I Don't Want to Work in a World of Whiteness:” White Faculty and Their Mentoring Relationships with Black Students: This article describes a cross-racial mentorship study with tangible lessons learned for consideration.
Senior U.S. lawmaker wants National Academies to scrutinize racism in science: The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) are working on a study to address and acknowledge the presence of systematic racism in academia.
Community College Pathways Improving the U.S. Physician Workforce Pipeline: This article explores the impact community college pathways have on medical school admissions and physician’s intention to practice in underserved or minority communities.
Food Justice: What's Race Got to Do with It?: In this article, authors and activists highlight the ways in which structural racism impacts food production and consumption. Health professionals should bear in mind the effects racism has on other social determinants of health that impact health outcomes.
Separate and unequal: racial segregation and disparities in quality across U.S. nursing homes: This article describes the ways in which racial segregation has impacted the quality of nursing homes and subsequently impacted health outcomes.
Health Disparities: Gaps in Access, Quality and Affordability of Medical Care: Health disparities drive health inequities. This article highlights how differential access to resources can result in disparate outcomes, especially among various racial and ethnic groups.
Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardener’s Tale: This article provides a framework for understanding the three levels of racism: institutionalized, personally mediated and internalized.
Naming Institutionalized Racism in the Public Health Literature: A Systematic Literature Review: This academic article examined the number of times institutionalized racism was explicitly mentioned and the importance of naming institutionalized racism.

Perspectives

Mentoring Black Men in Medicine: Black men have historically been underrepresented in medicine. While mentoring proves to be an important component to increasing diversity in medicine, this piece explores the unique challenges Black men face that can diminish the impacts of mentorship.

Tools and Training

Articles, Perspectives, and Literature

Making Anti-Racism A Core Value In Academic Medicine: This article describes the need for anti-racism as a core value within academia and provides an anti-racism action plan to implement within institutions.
Adopting an Anti-Racism Public Health Curriculum Competency: The University of Washington Experience: This article examines how public health education perpetuates racism and addresses the issues by implementing a student competency on racism.
The Performance of “Antiracism” Curricula: Anti-racism statements and recognition may have limited impact and may be counterproductive. In this piece, the author argues for the importance of not only committing to anti-racism but to actually carry out anti-racism practices in institutions.

Videos, Podcasts, and Webinars

Racism: Challenging Perceptions: This is a four-part discussion series that explores systemic racism and the disparities in systems of housing, wealth, and education.
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences - Anti-Racism Coalition Educational Series: This educational series seeks to promote learning and growth on topics related to race, racism, and anti-racism.
The Difference Between Being "Not-Racist" and Antiracist: Learn how to recognize and take responsibility to be an antiracist with this virtual TED interview of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.
How Racism Makes Us Sick: In this TEDMED video, Dr. David R. Williams, describes his measures of discrimination and how looking at social influences beyond obvious associations like income and education, can challenge people to address influences that affect a person’s well-being.
Interview with Dr. David Ansell on Racial Disparities in Health: In this interview, Dr. David Ansell defines structural racism and discusses its implications in the health outcomes of marginalized individuals.
Applying Systems Thinking to Address Structural Racism in Health Professions Education: This webinar examines the role of structural racism in health professions education, explains the role of structural competency in addressing structural racism, and identifies/shares promising anti-racism and health justice curricula.

Resource Websites

The New England Journal of Medicine - Race and Medicine: This website is a collection of perspective pieces, multimedia, and points of view that enhance anti-racism efforts among the medical community.
Racial Equity Tools: This website was designed to support individuals and groups working to achieve racial equity through offering tools, research, tips, curricula etc.
The Ohio State University Anti-Racism Initiatives: Actionable initiatives and resources are presented to elevate institutional and individual anti-racism efforts, including a 21-Day Anti-Racism Challenge.
Sunshine Behavior Health: This website raises awareness of mental health issues facing the Black community, and provides resources and treatment options for various conditions.

Tools

Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity Health Workforce Diversity Tracker: The Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity and the Beyond Flexner Alliance’s new tool monitors health workforce diversity to increase public awareness of the underrepresentation of minorities in healthcare fields. This tool will raise your awareness of existing diversity gaps and opportunities for improvement.
Social Mission Metrics Initiative: This website aims to advance the conversation around social mission measurement and describes the metrics tool, inclusive of diversity measurements, utilized by U.S. dental, nursing and medical schools. The tool development process is described in Academic Medicine.
Project Implicit: This website provides self-assessment tests to identify personal attitudes, behavior and beliefs that may perpetuate racism.

Training and Curriculum

AAMC MedEd Portal - Anti-racism in Medicine Collection: This website provides a collection of teaching and training resources pertaining to anti-racism that are pertinent across health professions.
Racism, Health Injustice, and Healthcare Workforce Training: In order to fully address the needs of vulnerable populations, it is imperative for the primary care workforce to be diverse, trained in the social determinants of health, and committed to ending racism. This resource defines the ways in which institutions can enhance primary care training to do so.
Structural Competency: This website provides articles, webinars, curriculum and other training materials ––developed by institutions around the world––on structural competency.

Featured Programs and Partners

Health Workforce Equity Summit - Structural Racism and Health Profession's Education: The Racism and Health Profession’s Education Summit discusses the need for increasing diversity in the heath workforce.