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.
Ensuring Equity Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Society of General Internal Medicine Statement to Members: June 5, 2020
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.
Read the full statement here
A Message on Racial Injustice From SGIM Executive Leadership and Staff
June 2, 2020
The Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) stands against racial injustice, inequality, white supremacy, or police violence of any kind. SGIM vehemently condemns the brutal murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the countless others. We refuse to be silent in the face of callous injustice.
Read our full statement here
Frontliners: Social Justice
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 Hudsepth, 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 Hudsepth, 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.