Not only does September bring us to Fall, it’s also Women in Medicine Month and Tuesday will begin National Hispanic Heritage Month (9/15/20-10/15/20). Hispanic Heritage Month (Mes Nacional de la Herencia Hispana) begins on September 15 because Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all declared independence on September 15, 1821. Mexico, Chile, and Belize also have independence days in late September. Given the overlap of Women in Medicine and Hispanic Heritage Month, it’s important to acknowledge that both of these groups are still significantly underrepresented in Neurology.
And don’t let our intern class of 7 women fool you; women still comprise less than 50% of Neurology residents across the country according to the AAMC. Additionally, Hispanic physicians comprise less than 6% of neurologists at academic medical centers. At Duke, we are well below even that number of Hispanic members based on our census from earlier this year. Diversity is clearly lacking. However, diversity adds nothing without inclusion. For that reason, the D&I Committee is working with the Duke Women in Neurology Group to ensure that the women in our department maintain pay equity and equal opportunity for advancement, leadership, promotion, and mentorship. Significant strides have been made in this area under Dr. O’Brien’s leadership. In a department with 38% female faculty, we have now reached the point where 39% of our leadership positions (vice chairs and division chiefs) are held by women.
Many readers of this email are researchers or others who publish scholarly works. In this time of enhanced social consciousness around race and racism, it’s important to keep abreast of the best practices in authorship. How should one write about race when publishing? I’ve attached a very helpful pdf that reviews this topic. I would encourage anyone who publishes, whether the primary focus is on race or not, to read this paper.
Some key points to keep in mind:
- Race as a term often goes undefined in papers. If you are discussing race, define what you mean by the term.
- Race is not a biological entity and thus race is not a risk factor for anything but racism. Racism, is the risk factor for disease. For conditions that are well known to be linked to certain populations (sickle cell anemia, for example), it’s African ancestry, not being Black, that conveys this risk. These terms are not synonymous.
- Racism as a variable is often ignored or obfuscated. It’s time to be explicit and to examine the role of racism in disease.
- Patient mistrust of the health care system exists, but too often this is framed in manuscripts as a problem with the patients as opposed to recognizing that this mistrust is well-earned and well-deserved by a health care system that has systematically either ignored or exploited marginalized groups for generations.
In case you missed this announcement, Duke has updated its parental leave policy, effective 8/3/20. It has become much more parent friendly. Please see the Duke HR website for details. https://hr.duke.edu/benefits/time-away/paid-parental-leave/paid-parental-leave-changes
These changes affect those of you enrolled in GME training programs as well.
Event Announcement:
On September 17 at 1 PM, there will be a livestream event entitled Stand by Me: Allies on Racism and Social Injustice. You can join at this link:
Reminders:
The Duke Neurology Suggestion Box is available for anyone to use, and you can remain anonymous. Please share with us any good news that you want to make the department aware of or any concerns you have related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfzlJZU0fmGdsauRnQ-l-Y0AYoiNduHR-x_VsaCUYUN2xDnsw/viewform
Will Alexander has worked very hard to put together a Duke Neurology Diversity and Inclusion website. It contains the results of our past several years of work. Please check it out.