Antiracism in Residency: A Multimethod Intervention to Increase Racial Diversity in a Community-Based Residency Program.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In order to address racial health inequity, it is imperative to create diverse physician workforce and leadership. We describe and report on the outcomes of a comprehensive diversity initiative at our residency with the goal of increasing the racial diversity of residents and faculty. METHODS: At a community-based family medicine residency program, we instituted a multifaceted diversity initiative. The four components were mission statement revision, a diversity task force, an antiracism curriculum, and an ongoing system to evaluate progress. RESULTS: From 2014 to 2017, the proportion of persons of color among the residents increased from 28% (10/36) to 68% (27/40). Faculty diversity increased from 9% to 27% over the same period. CONCLUSIONS: This multimethod diversity initiative dramatically increased the proportion of underrepresented and other minorities in the residency program. The intervention succeeded due to the commitment of leadership and resources to addressing racism and making diversity a top priority on an institutional level.

Fish oil selectively improves heart function in a mouse model of lipid-induced cardiomyopathy.

Fish oil (FO) supplementation may improve cardiac function in some patients with heart failure, especially those with diabetes. To determine why this occurs, we studied the effects of FO in mice with heart failure either due to transgenic expression of the lipid uptake protein acyl CoA synthetase 1 (ACS1) or overexpression of the transcription factor peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) γ via the cardiac-specific myosin heavy chain (MHC) promoter. ACS1 mice and control littermates were fed 3 diets containing low-dose or high-dose FO or nonpurified diet (NPD) for 6 weeks. MHC-PPARγ mice were fed low-dose FO or NPD. Compared with control mice fed with NPD, ACS1, and MHC-PPARγ, mice fed with NPD had reduced cardiac function and survival with cardiac fibrosis. In contrast, ACS1 mice fed with high-dose FO had better cardiac function, survival, and less myocardial fibrosis. FO increased eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids and reduced saturated fatty acids in cardiac diacylglycerols. This was associated with reduced protein kinase C alpha and beta activation. In contrast, low-dose FO reduced MHC-PPARγ mice survival with no change in protein kinase C activation or cardiac function. Thus, dietary FO reverses fibrosis and improves cardiac function and survival of ACS1 mice but does not benefit all forms of lipid-mediated cardiomyopathy.