HPP's Response to Racial Injustice & Inequality

We are deeply saddened by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, as well as the countless tragic deaths of Black people that have occurred because of racism and bias. We stand with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

Like our leaders in the Dartmouth community, UGAR acknowledges the need to continue questioning and addressing the ways systemic racism continues to prevail within our own institution and negatively affect members of our campus community. This includes working to understand the impact racism has on the Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) community on a day-to-day basis, and the inequities inherent in systemic barriers, and the role such disparities have played in too many tragic deaths. We stand in solidarity with those advocating for racial and social justice because racism should have no place in our society.

We affirm that all discrimination, whether it is based on sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality or whether it takes any other form, profoundly affects the lives of many in our society and that such discrimination cannot be tolerated.

We all have a role to play in dismantling systemic racism and other forms of bias. As educators, we hope to bring other voices into the conversation and to provide resources for those that want to learn more about how to support the BLM movement through action.

UGAR has carefully examined internal practices for places where we can act in support of the BIPOC community. Together with the staff, educators, and other professionals with whom we work, we are committed to learning, listening, and bringing about positive change. We are committed to the following actions to begin dismantling our own biases and to better support our students and staff:

Action Items for the Health Professions Program (HPP)

• We will continue to support students underrepresented in medicine (URiM) through our Pathways to Medicine and Pathways Scholars Program.
• We will continue to open certain Pathways events to the rest of the pre-health community so that all students interested in healthcare can gain additional perspectives on challenges faced by health professionals and patients that are from minoritized or underrepresented communities.
• We will focus on efforts to partner with Geisel to provide additional mentoring opportunities for those participating in Pathways.
• We will conscientiously provide resources to all students who wish to learn more about bias in medicine and/or wish to learn how to support the BIPOC community.
• We will continue our established practice of tracking URiM success in gaining entrance into medical school, and we will continue this valuable work in supporting BIPOC pre-health students in their goals.
• We will continue to strategize and work with the Dartmouth community to ensure that Dartmouth URiM pre-health students are supported in their pre-health goals.
• We will continue to seek out and provide opportunities for the Dartmouth pre-health community to hear from diverse leaders in their fields on topics of social justice in medicine and healthcare, ethics, public and global health.