Antiracism in Academic Medicine: Fixing the Leak in the Pipeline of Black Physicians

Abstract

Black physicians remain severely underrepresented in academic medicine despite the documented benefits of a diverse medical faculty. Only 3.6% of academic medical faculty self-report as Black or African American. Efforts to improve faculty diversity at academic medical institutions nationwide have not made meaningful impacts. Sustained improvements in faculty diversity cannot be achieved without an actively antiracist approach, including the intentional transformation of policies, practices, and systems that persistently produce worse outcomes for Black medical students, trainees, and faculty.