Vanderbilt holds anti-racism training for dermatology residents
On Sept. 26 and 27, dermatology residents at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center completed the 'Curriculum for Advancing Racial Equity' (CARE).
Program sessions included discussions on how to 'minimize bias and stereotyping when interacting with patients and physicians of color.'
One of the nation’s premier universities promoting “anti-racism” in its medical school programming.
On Sept. 26 and 27, dermatology residents at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) completed the “Curriculum for Advancing Racial Equity” (CARE) designed by the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).
The CARE program aims to fulfill a number of learning objectives relating to anti-racism, such as helping medical personnel “recognize and address racial microaggressions aimed at patients and physicians of color.”
The program also seeks to help health care professionals “engage in perspective-taking to minimize bias and stereotyping when interacting with patients and physicians of color,” and “investigate and address the impact of clinical and administrative actions that produce adverse effects for people of color.”
The Vanderbilt workshop featured discussions focused on “structural racism, implicit bias, strategies to minimize bias when interacting with patients and physicians of color, identity and privilege, racial microaggressions, and institutional racism in health care,” according to VUMC News.
AAD launched the CARE program in 2021 at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
VUMC’s decision to employ the CARE curriculum comes in the wake of similar, recent initiatives to center its medical research and education around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ideology.
In 2021, VUMC established the Diversity Liaison Committee, whose goals include “enhancing and fostering a culture that promotes the engagement, growth and retention of diverse faculty, scientists, staff and trainees.”
It primarily pursues these objectives by aiming to “develop strategies to enhance and support diversity and inclusion” and “ensure that [its] department is fully engaged in anti-racism training and development of a racial equity climate survey.”
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In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against race-based affirmative action policies in college admissions, Vanderbilt has continued to seek alternative methods of promoting admissions rules influenced by DEI.
The university’s Collaborative for STEM Education and Outreach engages in “ongoing review” of university admissions policies, which has led to a number of changes that aim towards “mitigating unintended barriers that affect access to the opportunities [Vanderbilt] provide[s],” emphasizing solutions to “medical inequities.”
“We are continuously engaged in developing lessons and activities that incorporate social justice topics into our STEM education programs, being careful to ensure the primary purpose of these lesson plans corresponds to our goal for improvements to STEAM education,” the collaborative states. “We have strived to include STEM professionals from underrepresented backgrounds in our speaking engagements and planned lessons, as well as led discussions concerning issues such as medical inequities.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Vanderbilt University and the AAD for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.