Invitation for Faculty to Participate in Focus Group Discussions

Posted in DEI News

A growing body of literature has demonstrated that educational content across numerous disciplines suffers from implicit and often explicit biases regarding race, ethnicity, gender, weight and other personal and sociodemographic characteristics. In medical, research, and health professions training, such biases can lead to racial essentialism (the assumption that race, despite being a social construct, reflects inherent biological and cognitive characteristics) and medicalization of certain identities, which then affect how students and trainees treat and interact with patients and peers.

GUMC’s Faculty Development Committee’s sub-committee on Faculty Diversity & Inclusion (FDI) is collaborating with the Racial Justice Committee for Change (RJCC) to provide support to faculty to review and update their curricula and associated instructional materials. Two resources have been developed to assist faculty with this process:

1)         The Upstate Bias Checklist for GUMC Educators

2)         The Inclusive Pedagogy Tool

Please complete this short Google form  by 14 February, 2024 if you would be interested in participating in a one-time 45-60 minute focus group discussion, via Zoom, to share perspectives on the utility, feasibility, and acceptability of using these tools. GUMC’s participating research team will be in touch with further information. This study has been approved by GUMC’s Institutional Review Board (MOD00015957, PI: Dr. Sarah Kureshi).