As we welcome our Foundations 1 students back to campus I want to give you an update on our efforts to expand anti-black racism elements and teachings within our Bridges Curriculum.
Dr. Lucey shared in her July 2 Communication that advancing our goal of eliminating health and healthcare disparities through education, research, patient care and public service is a continuous process.
This update is just one of many and specifically reflects our F1 Course Directors efforts to expand social justice content in the Foundations 1 Curriculum.
Enhancing Differences Matter Orientation. To promote a shared understanding of racism within our society, each incoming student now selects readings from the Differences Matter booklist to read prior to the start of Differences Matter Orientation.
Anti-Oppressive Content Enhanced in Foundations 1. Introductory content previously taught exclusively in the Health & Society and Health & the Individual Courses will now be integrated into Foundational Science blocks (including Ground School and Airway, Blood, and Circulation, Brain, Movement, and Behavior) and longitudinal elements (including the Clinical Microsystem Clerkship, the Core Inquiry Curriculum, and ARCH [see below]). This will provide an opportunity for the Health and Individual and Health and Society foundational science blocks to dive deeper into more substantive discussions about healthcare disparities and anti-racist concepts during these blocks.
ARCH Week Anti-Racism Discussions. In all of the ARCH weeks, the professional identity formation large and small group sessions address anti-racist pedagogy. The small group sessions of the SOLE curriculum allow students the opportunity to put anti-oppression skills into practice. Panels with trainees and faculty around career exploration and surviving and thriving on the wards give students practical examples about how to be an anti-racist in daily practice.
Enhanced Faculty Development. The co-chairs of Differences Matter Workgroup 3 have been providing support to faculty, helping them to review their lecture and discussion group using the Differences Matter Anti-Racism primer and toolkit to ensure they are using contemporary views on the impact of structural racism on health and healthcare.
Your deans, course and clerkship directors, and faculty teachers are dedicated to ending structural racism and all forms of oppression through education, and look forward to sharing future updates. As always, if you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to reach out to mededdeans@ucsf.edu
