Black Lives Matter - UA COM-P
White Coats 4 Black Lives
Our Mission
The White Coats for Black Lives chapter at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix recognizes the history of systemic racism in our country, especially the role it plays in creating health disparities and inequitable health outcomes for patients of color. As such, we aim to dismantle racism in medicine and promote the health, well-being, and self-determination of BIPOC. Black Lives Matter UACOM-P started out as AZ Healthcare Students for Social Justice. However, in the wake of the death of George Floyd in 2020 and in response to and in solidarity with the subsequent protests, UACOM-P students organized with other medical school students in Arizona to participate and support protestors. The Black Alumni Association published statements on specific action steps for UA COMP to take, and the school responded with 12 Action Steps Toward Inclusive Excellence. We have since joined the national White Coats for Black Lives Organization. We recognize the longitudinal, difficult, and crucial nature of anti-racism work beyond last year's events, and continue to be committed to these efforts in forms of advocacy, education, and discussion, so that we can change the system and learn how to both understand and fight against racism in healthcare.
Initiatives
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Our School's Commitments
Create a scholarship fund for medical students interested in serving the underserved Black/African American community. - In Progress
Conduct an annual review of the recruitment and admissions process, collaboratively guided by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and college leadership. Identify opportunities for improvement related to recruitment, training of reviewers and interviewers for unconscious bias, applicant screening criteria and admissions committee composition. - In Progress
Establish new and strengthen existing strategies to recruit and hire more Black and other underrepresented in medicine (URM) faculty, staff and leadership. - In progress
Develop a plan for Graduate Medical Education (GME) diversity efforts in collaboration with GME Diversity Subcommittee. - In Progress
Launch a development campaign for an Endowed Chair of Health Justice and Equity Research. An endowed chair is a position permanently paid for with the revenue from an endowment fund specifically set up for that purpose. The required gift to establish an endowed chair is between $1 million – $2.5 million. - In Progress
Provide mandatory annual unconscious bias training for all faculty, students, staff, residents, fellows and postdocs. - In Progress
Create a plan for curricular integration of topics related to race, racism and SDOH in medicine that incorporates recommendations from the students’ statement and the Black alumni statement (PDF). - In Progress
Report the full range of efforts by departments, faculty and staff to advance Inclusive Excellence via annual departmental reviews, UA Vitae and Career Conversations. - In Progress
Create a director of Mentoring position to facilitate mentoring and career development for URM students. - In Progress
Support the formation of employee resource groups for faculty and staff of color and other groups. - In Progress
Issue a statement on the college's website recognizing racism as a public health issue in line with AAMC and AMA. - Completed!
Generate stories, campaigns, art instillations that uplift Black and additional URM voices in medicine and society. - In Progress