SGIM’s vision is a just system of care in which all people can achieve optimal health. As a professional society of general internists, our members witness the direct effects that systematic racism has on our country’s healthcare systems and populations. As long as black and brown lives continue to be oppressed– this vision cannot be realized. A just system of care demands a just humanity.
This webpage is dedicated to SGIM's statements on racial injustice and resources to bolster racial equity.
The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has spurred an unprecedented global pandemic, leaving over 1 million Americans infected with COVID-19. Disturbingly, the data related to COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and deaths have demonstrated alarming racial and ethnic disparities across the United States.
Curtis Wright MD, MBA and Areeba Kara MD, MS
Dr. Curtis Wright and Dr. Areeba Kara, both assistant professors at Indiana University School of Medicine, led a workshop on “Building a Culture Towards Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Pathways for Success” at the 2022 Midwest Regional Meeting. Read how they have created and implemented a GME diversity framework at their institution, and their advice on how you can support DEI efforts at yours!
Rahul Vanjani, MD
Dr. Rahul Vanjani, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Brown University, led the workshop, “Contextualizing care plans utilizing Docs for Health, an online resource for addressing social determinants of health” at SGIM22. Read about his and his team’s efforts to address structural barriers to healthcare and learn how Docs for Health was started. You may find the tools to better help you address the needs of your patients!
Michele Heisler, MD, MPH
Michele Heisler, Professor of Internal Medicine and Public Health at the University of Michigan, discusses her position as the Medical Director at the Physicians for Human Rights group, while sharing the role of physicians in promoting human rights around the world. Find out how you can get involved by reading her story here. .
Avik Chatterjee, MD, MPH
Discover workshops on social justice and healthcare that you may have missed from SGIM’s 2022 Annual Meeting! Dr. Avik Chatterjee, Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Medicine, led the workshop, “Achieving Equity in Opioid Use Disorder Treatment”. To read about the historical racialization of addiction and addiction treatment, how it persists today, and how you can help confront it, visit our Frontliners: Social Justice page.
Heather Whelan, MD
There were so many workshops at SGIM’s 2022 Annual Meeting dedicated to the intersection of general internal medicine and social justice! Continue to learn what your SGIM colleagues presented on earlier this year. Dr. Heather Whelan, Professor of Clinical Medicine at University of California, San Francisco led the workshop, “Practical Approaches to Addressing the Educational Gap in Climate Health”. Learn how you can help close the education gap and better prepare for the inevitable changes in climate health. Read her story here.
Lucille M. Torres-Deas, MD
Dr. Lucille M. Torres-Deas, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, has mediated the “Anti-Racism in Medicine” series led by the Health Equity Commission. The series currently has 4 completed webinars available on GIMLearn. Read more about the series and Dr. Torres-Deas’s role as co-Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Internal Medicine Division at the Allen Hospital at NYP/CUMC by visiting the Frontliners: Social Justice page.
Amy H Farkas, MD MS; Brianna Rossiter, MD MS; Anita Ganti, MD; Christine Kolehmainen, MD MS; Deborah DiNardo, MD MS
Led by Amy H Farkas, MD; Brianna Rossiter, MD; Anita Ganti, MD; Christine Kolehmainen, MD; and Deborah DiNardo, MD, these women in GIM led the workshop “She Served: Caring for Women Veterans” at SGIM22. They discussed trauma informed care based around the unique effects of military service on women. Read about the role of primary healthcare providers in addressing the specific needs of women veterans, and how you can better support women who served.
Divya Venkat, MD
Dozens of workshops focused on social justice were presented at SGIM22. Here is your chance to catch up on those you may have missed! Dr. Divya Venkat, Co-Director of CIH RIvER Clinic led a workshop on “Mitigating Health Disparities of Mass Incarceration: from Policy to Program”, discussing the ways mass incarceration has lasting impacts at the individual, familial, and communal level. In collaboration with SGIM LEAHP and SGIM Human Rights and Global Health Interest Group, read how policies that perpetuate the cycle of recidivism impact health outcomes and equity.
Joanne Bernstein, MD, MSE
Dozens of workshops focused on social justice were presented at SGIM22. Here is your chance to catch up on those you may have missed! Dr. Joanne Bernstein, Assistant Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, was the primary presenter for her climate-based workshop, “Climate and Health Advocacy: A Role for Every Physician”. Learn more about how climate change impacts global health and why being an educated physician on climate issues can improve your patient care. And, of course, find out how you can get involved!
Elizabeth Davis, MD
Dr. Elizabeth Davis, Medical Director of Community Health Equity at Rush University Medical Center has led Rush students, faculty, and community members in their efforts to diagnose and vaccinate the underserved and homeless communities of West Side Chicago. Assisting in the oversight of 10,000 vaccinations and over 75,000 at-home PCR tests, Dr. Davis and her Rush@Home program was featured on CNN. Read about her grassroots efforts to contain COVID among West Side’s underserved populations here.
Jonathan Ross, MD, MS
Dr. Jonathan Ross, Assistant Professor of GIM at Montefiore Medical Center, focuses on HIV treatment and prevention across the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa. Read about his research in HIV care from Rwanda to New York and learn how you can get involved in global health initiatives like his by visiting here!
Celeste Newby, MD, PhD, FACP &
Lamar K. Johnson, MD
SGIM is excited to highlight workshops from our 2021 Annual Meeting that focused on social justice! Read about the ways in which your fellow SGIM members are engaging with causes that matter to them and our community. Dr. Celeste Newby at Tulane University and Dr. Lamar Johnson at Thomas Jefferson University presented on “Combating Systemic Racism in Healthcare”. Read what inspired their research and how their findings on implicit bias may help you and your institution improve patient care.
Rita Lee, MD
Dr. Rita Lee, Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, is a prominent figure in promoting health equity for the LGBT community in Colorado. Read her inspiring work as a founding member of the UCHealth Integrated Transgender Program and as the Director of Health Systems Science and Health Equity Education for the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Hannah Lichtsinn, MD, FAAP
In 2019, Dr. Hannah Lichtsinn, Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Minnesota, co-founded the Minnesota Immigrant Health Alliance (MIHA). Over the last two years MIHA has been working for health justice for immigrants and refugees in Minnesota while combating the unjust detention practices used on these populations. Read the full story of how the pandemic has effected these efforts here.
Sarah Kimball, MD
Dr. Sarah Kimball, Co-Director of the Immigrant & Refugee Health Center at Boston Medical Center, discusses the unique ways in which the pandemic has affected immigrants and refugees, as well as her proposal to president-elect Joe Biden to protect immigrant rights under his administration. Read her full story here.
James Hudspeth, MD
We need to be targeted and strategic to push forward agendas for change, otherwise we can end up in ineffectual…activism that satisfies our egos but does not change our systems.’ James Hudspeth, Director of the Global Health Pathway, shares what it means to address health equity on a global level, and how he trains the next generation of general internists to be aware of social injustice within the health system. Read his story here.
Galina Tan, MD
Dr. Galina Tan, an Internal Medicine primary care physician at Cambridge Health Alliance and instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, was recently named a Health Equity Scholar at the Center for Health Equity Education & Advocacy out of Cambridge Health Alliance. Read how she promotes health equity as a scholar and volunteer with CHA’s social justice coalition.
Michelle Ogunwole, MD
SGIM is proud to expand our membership highlight series to include members working at the front lines of social justice and health equity. Frontliners: Social Justice welcomes its first highlight, Dr. Michelle Ogunwole, General Internal Medicine Fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Ogunwole has recently co-authored two papers and took part in a podcast series confronting racial and gender disparities in medicine and GIM. Read her story here.