Pediatricians for Black Lives
About Us: We are a group of pediatricians, both faculty and residents, that has come together with the goal to make sustainable anti-racist change at the University of Michigan.
Disclaimer: We are a group of resident allies and our goal is to amplify and center the voices and experiences of our Black colleagues and patients. We are holding ourselves and our program accountable for measurable change. We’re aware that this may include missteps but also know that silence is a misuse of the power and privilege we have been given as physicians. We are continually open to feedback and seeking growth.
Mission: Our overarching goals were created purposefully in alignment with the goals and voices of Michigan Medical School’s White Coats for Black Lives (an initiative of the Black Medical Association). Please see their initial letter here. These goals have been organized into a 3-armed approach:
Support of current Black and URM medical students, faculty, and employees
Resident recruitment and education, both reflecting a commitment to anti-racist practices
Sustainable, informed engagement with the community
Board Members
Tessa Adzemovic, MD, MS
Alex Blumer, MD
Suzie DiBattista, MD
Michelle Glick, MD, MA
Liz Hovel, MD, MPH
Andrea Kendall, MD
Lydia Lanni, MD, MPH
Sara McLaughlin, MD, PhD
Helen Mulcahy, MD
Katie Ramos, MD
Kylie Jungles, MD
Emily Masterson, MD
Use this QR Code to join our Listserv!
Our listserv has 101 participants including faculty, fellows, program leadership, medical students, and members of each pediatric residency class (and some other residency programs).
Some of our initiatives:
We wrote a proposal to the residency Recruitment Committee / leadership with evidence-based approaches to eliminate bias in recruitment of residents, which sparked a great dialogue and we were pleased to hear the Recruitment staff had adopted so much of what we know is evidence-based: For example, using standardized interview questions and scoring of interviewees to eliminate bias. Ensuring every interviewer is versed in our program’s DEI initiatives and can answer questions and guide applicants to the right place to get their questions answered.
Resident members of our group are emailing applicants personally who are interested in DEI to help answer their questions/concerns as they apply
Ran a Reach out and Read book drive that raised enough funds to buy 550 brand-new books from locally owned businesses in multiple languages including Arabic, Spanish, and Mandarin and with children of color featured in the books to represent our patient population and foster early literacy
Voting initiatives!!! We got voting registration posters approved for all pediatric outpatient clinics as well as lanyards from VotEr to encourage our patients and their parents to vote (and help them register in the moment!) We discussed voting with our patients during well checks and documented it using one of our new dot phrases.
Advocacy dot phrases for each resident (please steal them if you’d like them!) (automatically added to all current residents smart phrases) --> Find them at .advo
Supporting pre-med and current URM medical students
Doctors in training
Improving the clerkship survey for all students including URM students and meeting with leadership
Meetings with BMA leadership
Some of our educational advocacy and DEI themed noon conferences so far:
Derm in people of color - available here ICYMI!
Advocacy in the Age of Covid 19 with Ypsilanti PCP Dr. Terence Joiner:
A criminal justice panel that included our new Washtenaw County Prosecutor, Eli Savit
In the works:
Exploring community partnerships in the PCH (community
health) rotation that’s done during 2nd and 3rd year residency to strengthen resident advocacy experiences
Solidifying a required anti-racist experience in our PCH rotation, to be initiated in the 2021-2022 residency year
Virtual 5K to benefit local organizations serving people of color
Workshops oriented towards keeping our elected officials accountable to children and specifically children of color
Using our social media account to highlight local Black-owned businesses
Recruitment, recruitment, recruitment of URM residents
Collaborating with the Forum on Race & Justice planning with Drs. Woolford, Freed, & Martin