Mount Sinai’s Anti-Racist Transformation (ART) in Medical Education leaders: top row, from left, Leona Hess, PhD; and David Muller, MD; and bottom row, medical student Jennifer Dias.
Four years ago, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai launched a culture transformation initiative to eliminate racism and bias from its medical education program. Now, Mount Sinai is looking to share its Racism and Bias Initiative, which includes a virtual leaning platform, with eight to ten other medical schools, with the support of a new grant from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.
Icahn Mount Sinai recently sent a Request for Proposal (RFP) to medical schools throughout North America and expects to choose eight to ten that will participate in this community of practice, which offers training modules and tools that lead to cultural change. The project is called Anti-Racist Transformation (ART) in Medical Education.
“Many medical schools are interested in the approach we have taken here at Mount Sinai,” says David Muller, MD, Dean for Medical Education, and Marietta and Charles C. Morchand Chair in Medical Education, at Icahn Mount Sinai, who is one of the grant’s principal investigators. “We have been invited to present at a number of institutions around the country—from grand rounds to seminars and workshops. The support we received from the Macy Foundation, combined with all of the work we’ve been doing, made us feel we could bring eight to ten schools into the fold, share with them the process that is working for us, and evolve together as a community.” Eventually, Mount Sinai will open its program to all medical schools wishing to participate.
Mount Sinai began implementing its change management strategy in earnest in 2018. In December 2020, Dr. Muller and two Mount Sinai colleagues—Leona Hess, PhD, Director of Strategy and Equity Education Programs; and Ann-Gel S. Palermo, DrPH, MPH, Senior Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—co authored a paper about their work that appeared in Academic Medicine. Their paper, “Addressing and Undoing Racism and Bias in the Medical School Learning and Work Environment,” sparked interest from other medical schools.
“It’s not enough just to have good intentions,” says Dr. Hess, who is leading Mount Sinai’s current change-management platform and is a co-principal investigator on the grant. “Through this process we’ve really grown to respect what it takes, what are some of the structures, mindsets, and values that we have to instill to get us to a place that’s free of racism and bias, which is our vision. ART in Med Ed is an answer to how we can get there collectively.”
Jennifer Dias, a leader in anti-racism activism, is a third member of the grant’s leadership team and a rising third-year medical student who will be devoting a scholarly year to the initiative.