[Un]Forgetting History: Preparing Public Health Professionals to Address Structural Racism

“The health implications of racism, a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on socially defined race,(1) are well documented in US government statistics.(2) Persistent inequities, resulting from dispro-”

“not appropriately aligned and communities mobilized to effectively change the systems and structures that perpetuate them.(30) In response, President Biden issued an executive order to advance racial equity, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has formally recognized the important role public health Imp…”

“By perpetuating enduring inequalities in social conditions (eg, socioeconomic status, neighborhood context), racism ensures that racial inequities in health are sustained.(4) Systems change is necessary to fulfill the mission of public health: ensuring conditions where all people have equitable opportunities for healt…”

“Antiracist pedagogy goes beyond merely adding content about racism into a course or curriculum to being strategic about how courses, for which race is not the focal subject, are taught.(31) Public health schools and programs must prepare professionals who commit to social justice and apply the information, management…”

“Our decision to use the Harvard Case Teaching Method process to ground our course followed recommendations from Who Will Keep the Public Healthy to use a case-based approach(17) and because anti-racism praxis necessitates relationship building and being actively reflexive.(21) The Harvard Case Teaching Method, designe…”

“Our approach began by identifying high-impact teaching practices, which can be implemented within a course, rather than at the curricular or programmatic level.(16) Following guidance in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Who Will Keep the Public Healthy, we selected nontraditional teaching components(17) to best…”

“The ACRC executive director and faculty reviewed written team proposals and presentations, provided feedback, and assessed utility of disseminating proposals to the nonprofit executive board.(28)”

“The Harvard Case Teaching Method, designed originally for law and business schools, is a participatory, discussion-based approach to sharpen students’ critical thinking, decision making, group dynamic, and communication skills.(22) Teaching cases are real-world situations that provide opportunities to explore complex…”

“…determinants of health, including racism, has become a core part of the field of Maternal and Child Health (MCH), which serves vulnerable populations in sensitive developmental periods, and often addresses system inequities to achieve health goals (Pies & Kotelchuck, 2014; Rosario et al., 2022).”

“To do so, some authors used a combination of instruments and pre-post surveys (Calardo et al., 2022; Udemgba et al., 2022), open-ended questions (Charon et al., 2021 ), students’ reflections (Avant & Gillespie, 2019) and focus groups (Rosario et al., 2022).”

“Racism is a public health crisis, as evidenced by the well over 200 declarations passed among various localities, cities, counties, and states throughout the United States since 2020 (American Public Health Association, 2021; Rosario et al., 2022).”

“Case scenarios can assist in directly critiquing one ’ s own positionality, stimulate critical thinking and encourage discussions [51, 53, 59].”