MVT Black History Month Celebration Continues with Spotlight on AAMC’s Health Equity Initiatives
Friday February 9, 2024
As part of our continuing celebration of Black History Month, this week we highlight work some of the organizations headquartered here in MVT are doing to promote equity and empower black members of their professional communities.
Located at 655 K Street NW, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is a non-profit association that “leads and serves the academic medicine community to improve the health of people everywhere” and works to transform health “through medical education, health care, medical research, and community collaborations.” One of AAMC’s main focus areas is supporting initiatives and projects that advance equity, diversity, and inclusion in the academic medicine community.
In 2020, AAMC – in collaboration with the National Medical Association (NMA) – launched the Action Collaborative for Black Men in Medicine in response to a staggering observation that less than 3% of doctors are Black men. The Action Collaborative aims to:
- Identify replicable solutions to amplify and support Black men’s interest in a career in medicine and/or in the biomedical sciences.
- Use existing data and evidence to develop systems-based solutions to address exclusionary practices that create barriers for Black men and prevent them from having equitable opportunities to successfully enroll in medical school.
- Convene key partners to act on measurable solutions.
Tangibly, AAMC recognizes that systemic change needs to begin as early as elementary school, but has targeted its mentoring and financial support initiatives to focus on the last two years of high school through the first two years of medical school. One of the programs they support locally is called Young Docs Project, which works with Black male DC high school students who are interested in going to college and pursuing careers in health.
We applaud the work that AAMC is doing to close the gap in this area of health equity and encourage anyone who wants to learn more or provide their own expertise to join the Action Collaborative for Black Men in Medicine Virtual Community.
More Resources:
Read “Action Collaborative for Black Men in Medicine Strategy Summit Proceedings,” October 2022
Listen to the podcast “Black Men in Medicine: Meeting the Challenge | Beyond the White Coat: Making the Rounds,” April 6, 2021
Related Links:
“AAMC Leader Talks Vaccines & Reopening Strategy with Federal City Council,” May 12, 2020
“MVT Celebrates Black History Month,” February 2, 2024
Related News
February 9, 2024 Call for Volunteers!
March 21, 2014 Farmers Market Survey
March 10, 2023 Mandu Makes the Michelin Guide!
