Health Equity, Anti-racism, and Social Justice (HEARS)

Race

A socially constructed way of grouping people, based on skin color and other apparent physical differences, which has no genetic or scientific basis. This social construct was created and used to justify social and economic oppression of historically minoritized groups by whites.

Racism/racial discrimination

A system of advantage based on race. A system of power and oppression codified into laws, policies, and institutions, based on the socially constructed concept of race, that advantages the dominant group (white people) while disadvantaging the non-dominant group (historically minoritized groups).

Racism takes several forms and works most often in tandem with at least one other form to reinforce racist ideas, behavior, and policy. Types of racism include:

Individual racism: the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support or perpetuate racism in conscious and unconscious ways. The U.S. cultural narrative about racism typically focuses on individual racism and fails to recognize systemic racism.

Interpersonal racism: public expressions of racism, often involving slurs, biases, or hateful words or actions occurring between individuals.

Institutional racism: race-based discriminatory treatments, unfair policies, or biased practices occurring in an organization that result in inequitable outcomes for whites over historically minoritized groups and extend considerably beyond prejudice. These institutional policies often do not explicitly mention any racial group, but the intent and effect is to create advantages for privileged groups.

Structural racism: the overarching system of racial bias across institutions and society. These systems give privileges to white people resulting in disadvantages to historically minoritized groups.

Health disparity

Differences between the health of one population and another in measures of who gets disease, who has disease, who dies of disease, and other adverse health conditions.

Health inequity

Differences in health status and mortality rates across population groups that are systemic, avoidable, unfair, and unjust. These differences are related to social and economic injustice and are attributable to social, economic, and environmental conditions in which people live, work, and play.

Antiracist

Antiracist action results from a conscious decision to make frequent, consistent, equitable choices daily. These choices require ongoing self-awareness and self-reflection. In the absence of making antiracist choices, we (un)consciously uphold aspects of white supremacy (the false notion of a hierarchy of human value based on race, with white being supreme), white-dominant culture, and unequal institutions and society.

Race-based medicine

The system by which research characterizing race as an essential, biological variable translates into clinical practice, leading to inequitable care. This is in opposition to race-conscious medicine, which incorporates awareness of race as a societal health influence but does not view it as a genetic or other biologic facto

Social Justice²

The open acknowledgement of the dignity and autonomy of and delivery of high-quality medical care, to all members of society, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, language, geography, origin, or socioeconomic background.

Strategic Goals

Team

Areeba Kara MD MS
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
Associate Division Chief-General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics
Indiana University School of Medicine

Ashley Jenkins MD MSc
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Member names and institutions

• Gopi Astik, MD, Northwestern University
• Marisha Burden, MD, MBA, University of Colorado
• Adriana Dhawan, MD, University of Minnesota
• Archna Eniasivam, MD, University of California San Francisco
• Michelle Fletcher, MD, Northwestern University
• Elizabeth Le, MD, VA Palo Alto Healthcare System
• Kassab Lena, MD, Mayo Clinic
• Anne Linker, MD, Icahn School of Medicine (Mount Sinai)
• Benji Matthews, MD, University of Minnesota
• Maya Narayanan, MD, University of Washington
• Nila Radhakrishnan, MD, University of Florida College of Medicine
• Jennifer Readlynn, MD, University of Rochester
• Sarah Saari, MD, University of Washington
• David Sterken, MD, University of Wisconsin
• Amelita Woodruff, MD, Johns Hopkins