The Churchwell Diversity & Inclusion Collective (CDIC) is a resident-led group named after Dr. Andre Churchwell, the first Black Internal Medicine Chief Resident at Emory. The CDIC advocates for matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the resident level through professional development, networking, and community outreach programs. Members also serve on the Department of Medicine’s DEI Council.
The CDIC Advocacy Branch is a space for internal medicine residents to envision and advocate for structural change in our program and communities. We are developing a longitudinal health justice curriculum that will provide all residents with the tools to understand structural drivers of health inequity and develop strategies to promote health justice. We also foster advocacy efforts from our residents and faculty to address health disparities at local, state, and national levels. We have developed the following Mission & Vision for Health Justice, which we are sharing here for internal medicine resident feedback.
Our Mission, Vision, and Values
The Churchwell Diversity and Inclusion Collectiveâs Advocacy Branch is committed to working toward a just healthcare system by reimagining the way physicians are recruited and trained at Emory and beyond.
Our Mission
We are committed to developing a nationally recognized training program that supports diverse teachers and learners, fosters a culture of self-reflection, and empowers residents to collectively address upstream drivers of health inequity.
Our Vision
We envision a healthcare system where all people receive quality, equitable, and compassionate care.
Our Values
We believe that:
- Everyone deserves equitable healthcare.
- All people should be able to access medical care via a universal, comprehensive healthcare system in a welcoming, safe, inclusive environment regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic status, disability, incarceration status, nationality, or primary language.
- A diverse physician workforce is essential.
- In addition to diversity in our medical trainees and faculty, equity in leadership positions and compensation is essential to achieving just healthcare and medical education systems.
- Physicians should receive comprehensive education in all of the determinants of health.
- Medical education should extend beyond pathophysiology. Physicians must receive comprehensive education in comparative health systems, social determinants of health, systemic racism, and other structural drivers of morbidity and mortality in order to advocate for the policy-level changes that will improve the health of our patients and society.
- We must hold ourselves and our institutions to the highest standards.
- Unconscious bias leads to inequality in healthcare. We recognize the importance of cultivating a culture where we are expected to examine, identify, and address this bias within ourselves, our community, and the larger healthcare and medical education systems.
- This work is best done together.
- Collaboration, collective action, and mutual support are essential components to achieving truly equitable healthcare and medical education systems. We will work with patients and community groups and always center our most vulnerable and marginalized patients in our advocacy efforts.
Health Justice Standards
CDIC residents wrote the initial version of these standards in Summer 2020. We negotiated with Emory's Internal Medicine Residency Program leadership, Department of Medicine leadership, and our DEI Council over the subsequent year and a half to modify our work into the current document.
As physicians, we acknowledge that the long history of racism and systemic bias in medicine and medical education has lead to inequitable health care. These standards were co-created by Emory internal medicine residents and faculty to articulate our vision for the future of medicine within the systems in which we practice. These standards assess our current state, articulate our plans for the future, and lay out our aspirations as we work toward a more just and equitable healthcare system.
We are using these standards as a working document to initiate important conversations and hold us accountable for continued, deliberate structural change in our program and communities.
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Representation: Build population parity in the workforce by promoting recruitment and retention of diverse residents and faculty
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Support: Provide institutional support for residents and faculty, including discrimination reporting and creation of affinity groups
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Education: Create and maintain a robust health justice curriculum and evaluate the current curriculum for bias
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Patient Care: Protect our marginalized patient populations and work to ensure equitable treatment for all patients under our care
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Research: Ensure studies conducted at Emory define and justify any use of race and acknowledge racism, not race, as a cause of inequity
Progress and Next Steps
In upcoming months, the CDIC Advocacy Branch, in conjunction with DOM DEI leadership and residency leadership, will share more about areas of action under each standard. For now, we are sharing a listing of recent highlights related to our mission:
- Developed a Mission & Vision statement for review by the CDIC, residents, and Department of Medicine leadership.
- Obtained “Doctor” badge buddies for each resident, to make their roles clear and to avoid the misidentification of female and URiM residents’ roles on the team.
- Started a monthly core Health Justice Curriculum in January 2021 focusing on the history of racism and bias in medicine, intersectional oppression, non-biological drivers of disease, comparative health systems, and health justice strategies.
Feedback Requested!
We welcome input from our residents! Please complete the below form to share your comments and suggestions.