A Resident-Led Initiative to Advance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism in a Pediatrics Residency Program.

A racially and ethnically diverse physician workforce is critical to meeting the needs of the United States' increasingly diverse patient population. Unfortunately, Black, Latinx, American Indian, and Alaska Native communities remain underrepresented in medicine. The disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by race/ethnicity and increased public attention to anti-Black and anti-Asian racism have inspired a growing national discourse on addressing systemic racism. Within academic medicine, there has been a call for the fundamental incorporation of antiracism into medical training and professional competency. From the perspective of a group primarily led by residents who are women of color, we describe our 6 years of experience leading a Diversity Committee that catalyzed sustained and systemic efforts to advance diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and antiracism at a large urban pediatrics residency program. We outline the implementation and key outcomes of the Diversity Committee's ongoing initiatives to increase resident diversity, foster an inclusive learning environment, develop a resident curriculum on DEI and antiracism, and center the needs and wisdom of the communities that our institution serves. Finally, we highlight challenges and lessons learned to inform other institutions striving to advance DEI and antiracism in academic medicine.

From Diversity and Inclusion to Antiracism in Medical Training Institutions.

The glaring racial inequities in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating loss of Black lives at the hands of police and racist vigilantes have catalyzed a global reckoning about deeply rooted systemic racism in society. Many medical training institutions in the United States have participated in this discourse by denouncing racism, expressing solidarity with people of color, and reexamining their diversity and inclusion efforts. Yet, the stagnant progress in recruiting, retaining, and supporting racial/ethnic minority trainees and faculty at medical training institutions is well documented and reflects unaddressed systemic racism along the academic pipeline. In this article, the authors draw upon their experiences as early-career physicians of color who have led and supported antiracism efforts within their institutions to highlight key barriers to achieving meaningful progress. They describe common pitfalls of diversity and inclusion initiatives and call for an antiracist approach to systems change. The authors then offer 9 recommendations that medical training institutions can implement to critically examine and address racist structures within their organizations to actualize racial equity and justice.