Anti-Racism in Health Focus

Anti-Racism in Health Focus: Discussing Race and Medicine 

Thursday, August 26, 12-1 p.m., Hamilton Building (register here)

Open to all Jefferson students, faculty, and staff

Continue the conversation about race and medicine following Professor Dorothy Roberts’ Berkowitz Humanism in Medicine lecture. Join a small-group discussion, facilitated by a Jefferson faculty member, to debrief with classmates about ways to integrate the history of race and medicine into both the present moment, and your future professional practice. 

Jefferson faculty facilitators:

Denine Crittendon, MPH, PhD(c), Instructor, Master of Public Health Program, Jefferson College of Population Health.

Bernard Lopez, MD, Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, Thomas Jefferson University Senior Associate Dean for Diversity and Community Engagement, Professor and Executive Vice Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College

Dimitri Papanagnou, MD, Associate Dean, Faculty Development, Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

Please note: These discussions will take place in-person, in the Hamilton Building on Jefferson's Center City campus. Participants will be randomly assigned to a small group and notified of the room number leading up to the event; lunch provided.

*If you would like to receive credit for the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate, please fill out this attendance form after the event. All event attendance forms can be found in their respective event listings or on Canvas. Learn more about the Asano Certificate program, and register here.

^This workshop counts as credit towards the Anti-Racism in Health Focus, a subset of the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate. 

Health Humanities Reading Group: Henrietta Lacks

Monday, October 4, 12-1 p.m., Zoom (Registration in Canvas, instructions below)

Open to all Jefferson students, faculty, and staff

Reading/Listening:

• ‘Henrietta Lacks’: A Donor’s Immortal Legacy, interview with Rebecca Skloot on Fresh Air (2010) (audio: 37min)
• Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Henrietta Lacks And Race,” The Atlantic, February 2010. (read: 4min)
• Time: 40 min of reading and listening

This week, the Health Humanities Reading Group explores the life and legacy of Henrietta Lacks, whose cervical cells, taken and used without her knowledge, have played a role in modernity as we know it: from vaccines to medicine to space travel. Lacks’ story is unique but also representative of the pervasive mistreatment of Black people by institutions of medicine, science, education, and healthcare.

Special guest discussant: Ana Mari­a Lopez, MD, MPH, MACP, Professor and Vice Chair, Medical Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Chief of Cancer Services, Jefferson Health New Jersey, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center

The Anti-Racism in Health Focus, a subset of the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate, brings Jefferson students together to discuss topics at the intersection of health, race, inequity, and justice. Through a series of discussion-based events, students will develop their understanding of present and historical factors affecting health equity—including how systemic racism disrupts access to and quality of care—to inform their futures as healthcare practitioners committed to socio-political awareness and cultural humility. In doing so, participants will collectively explore ways to incorporate anti-racist practices and paradigms into their work with patients, colleagues, and communities.

The Anti-Racism in Health Focus is committed to:

• Deconstructing race as a biological category and understanding social constructions of race
• Acknowledging and confronting structural racism in both healthcare systems and at broader societal levels
• Highlighting narratives and practices of resilience and creative healing

To access the registration link, participants may self-enroll in the Jefferson Humanities & Health organization on Canvas, or email Matilda Ostow, and visit the Event Links module. 

*If you would like to receive credit for the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate, please fill out this attendance form after the event. All event attendance forms can be found in their respective event listings or on Canvas. Learn more about the Asano Certificate program, and register here.

^This workshop counts as credit towards the Anti-Racism in Health Focus, a subset of the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate. 

Anti-Racism in Health Focus Discussion - Medical Bondage: Race, Gender and the Origins of American Gynecology

Wednesday, October 6, 12-1 p.m., Zoom (Registration in Canvas, instructions below)

Open to all Jefferson students, faculty, and staff

Join a conversation with Deirdre Cooper Owens, PhD, the Charles & Linda Wilson Professor in the History of Medicine and Director of the Humanities in Medicine Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Director of the Program in African American History at The Library Company of Philadelphia. Professor Cooper Owens is the author of Medical Bondage: Race, Gender and the Origins of American Gynecology (University of Georgia Press, 2018). In her book, she investigates the relationship between chattel slavery and modern gynecology in the U.S., retelling the stories of Black enslaved women and Irish immigrant women whose lives were shaped by exploitative medical research. Professor Cooper Owens highlights the role of structural racism in the achievements of pioneering American doctors including James Marion Sims, who received a medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1835. 

Materials

Discussion group participants are asked to watch Prof. Cooper Owens’ recorded lecture in advance (Total length: 1 hr to view recorded lecture; begin at approx. 8 min, after introductions, and end at 1 hr 07 min).

• Watch: Deirdre Cooper Owens, PhD, on "Medical Bondage: Race, Gender and the Origins of American Gynecology" at UC Berkeley on Feb. 21, 2020. Watch here. 
• Optional Reading: Read Chapter 1 of Medical Bondage, available on Canvas. To access the reading, visit the Anti-Racism and Racial Justice Resources page in the DEI Resources Module in the Jefferson Humanities Health Canvas page. Instructions to access Canvas below.

To access the registration link, participants may self-enroll in the Jefferson Humanities & Health organization on Canvas, or email Matilda Ostow, and visit the Event Links module. 

*If you would like to receive credit for the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate, please fill out this attendance form after the event. All event attendance forms can be found in their respective event listings or on Canvas. Learn more about the Asano Certificate program, and register here.

^This workshop counts as credit towards the Anti-Racism in Health Focus, a subset of the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate. Learn more here.

A Step Forward: Moving from Awareness to Anti-Racism in Healthcare

Tuesday, October 26, 4-5:30 p.m., In-person location TBD

Open to all Jefferson students, staff and faculty; light refreshments provided.

Join us for the fifth annual Interprofessional Story Slam!

Over the past year and a half, many of us have become more aware of the manifestations and impact of racism in our society. We have struggled to begin to dismantle and transform the systems that uphold racism, which can feel overwhelming, angering and painful. During the Story Slam, Jefferson faculty, students and alumni will share five-minute stories exploring the theme “A Step Forward: Moving from Awareness to Anti-Racism in Healthcare” and help us consider how we can create change and move forward during a time of growing attention to racism and disparities; stand with each other for social justice and health equity; and ultimately, care for our patients, our communities, our families and ourselves. Following the stories, attendees will be invited to join brief small group discussions and share reflections and goals for the future.

Featured storytellers: NAMES/TBD

*If you would like to receive credit for the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate, please fill out this attendance form after the event. All event attendance forms can be found in their respective event listings or on Canvas. Learn more about the Asano Certificate program, and register here.

^This workshop counts as credit towards the Anti-Racism in Health Focus, a subset of the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate.