EDI News

Duke CTSI, Duke University School of Medicine, and Duke University Health System together have launched a new initiative aimed at achieving equitable representation in clinical research.

The Duke University School of Medicine has been selected as one of 11 medical schools from across the United States and Canada to participate in the Anti-Racist Transformation in Medical Education (ART in Med Ed) project, a national collaborative to dismantle systemic racism and bias in academic medicine.

After a yearlong planning process, the School of Medicine details its commitment to dismantling racism in a new strategic plan.

Like many, Annise Weaver, MSEd, CRC, found herself feeling powerless in 2020. As she watched news reports of racial injustices occurring in the country that in turn prompted worldwide protests, Weaver wondered if it was truly possible for her to make a meaningful, lasting difference in the fight to dismantle racism.

The Duke University School of Medicine has announced the recipients of the 2021 Michelle P. Winn Awards, which recognize exceptional achievement within the field of diversity and inclusion. This year’s recipients are Maureen Cullins, Jacqueline Barnett, DHSc, MSHS, PA-C, Marcus Taylor, and the team of Gabriela Maradiaga Panayotti, MD, and Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, MD.

Only around 6% of practicing ophthalmologists are minorities, and only 3% of ophthalmologists are Black. As part of Duke Health’s broader Moments to Movement anti-racism initiative, leaders at Duke Eye Center like Herndon are working to continually improve these statistics through initiatives to recruit and mentor medical students and residents from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds and fight against racism and discrimination in their everyday work. 

Read in Vision magazine

Medical Student Jasmine Chigbu, MS3, the founder and CEO of MTM, won not only the grand prize, but also the Fidelity Community Catalyst Innovation Award.

Commentary by Dr. Kafui Dzirasa and colleagues, published in Science Magazine.

As the COVID-19 pandemic and racial reckoning unfolded side-by-side during the summer of 2020, a common thread emerged that prompted an intentional shift at the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA).

“Although equity is something that Duke CTSA has always been interested in, during the summer of 2020, a more organized initiative to integrate equity throughout CTSI and CTSA was deemed necessary,” said Keisha Bentley-Edwards, PhD, a Duke developmental psychologist and member of CTSI.

Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute is launching the Center for Equity in Research to promote equity, anti-racism, and anti-bias in clinical and translational research. The new center is led by Nadine Barrett, PhD, Associate Director of Equity and Community and Stakeholder Strategy for CTSI.

Learn more about the Center for Equity in Research

 

With COVID-19 being a fixture of our lives for nearly a year now, science has been a staple in the news. Along with science, though, a long-overdue conversation about the state of race relations in America has taken center stage, which makes diversity in science a critical topic to delve into. COVID-19 has highlighted not only a national crisis in healthcare response, but also longstanding health disparities across racial and socioeconomic groups that have only been exacerbated by the pandemic.