Proceedings of a Workshop
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Community Support, Partnerships, and Inclusive Environments for Black Students and Professionals in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27731.
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COMMUNITY SUPPORT, PARTNERSHIPS, AND INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR BLACK STUDENTS AND PROFESSIONALS IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE PLANNING COMMITTEE
ANDRÉ CHURCHWELL (Co-Chair), Vanderbilt University
SHIRLEY MALCOM (NAS)1 (Co-Chair), American Association for the Advancement of Science
GILDA A. BARABINO (NAE/NAM), Olin College of Engineering
GEORGE Q. DALEY (NAM), Harvard Medical School
IVORY DEAN, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
EVELYNN M. HAMMONDS (NAM), Harvard University
CAMARA P. JONES (NAM), Morehouse School of Medicine
VIVIAN W. PINN (NAM), National Institutes of Health (Retired)
CLYDE W. YANCY (NAM), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Project Staff
ANDRÉ N. PORTER, Senior Program Officer, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine
MARIA LUND DAHLBERG, Director, Board on Higher Education and Workforce
JOHN VERAS, Associate Program Officer, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine (since April 2023)
KARLA RILEY, Senior Program Assistant, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine (since September 2022)
PAULA WHITACRE, Consultant Writer
___________________
1 Designates membership in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Engineering (NAE), or National Academy of Medicine (NAM).
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ROUNDTABLE ON BLACK MEN AND BLACK WOMEN IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE
CATO T. LAURENCIN (NAS/NAE/NAM) (Chair), University of Connecticut
OLUJIMI AJIJOLA, UCLA Medical Center
GILDA A. BARABINO (NAE/NAM), Olin College of Engineering
CHARLES R. BRIDGES, JR. (NAE), CorVista Health
CEDRIC M. BRIGHT, East Carolina University
L. D. BRITT (NAM), Eastern Virginia Medical School
ANDRÉ L. CHURCHWELL, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
THEODORE CORBIN (NAM), Drexel University
GEORGE Q. DALEY (NAM), Harvard Medical School
WAYNE A. I. FREDERICK (NAM), Howard University
PAULA T. HAMMOND (NAS/NAE/NAM), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
EVELYNN M. HAMMONDS (NAM), Harvard University
LYNNE M. HOLDEN, Mentoring in Medicine, Inc.
CAMARA P. JONES (NAM), Morehouse School of Medicine
CORA BAGLEY MARRETT, University of Wisconsin–Madison
WILLIAM MASSEY, Princeton University
VALERIE MONTGOMERY RICE (NAM), Morehouse School of Medicine
RANDALL C. MORGAN, JR., W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute
ELIZABETH O. OFILI (NAM), Morehouse School of Medicine
VIVIAN W. PINN (NAM), National Institutes of Health (Retired)
JOAN Y. REEDE (NAM), Harvard Medical School
LOUIS W. SULLIVAN (NAM), Morehouse School of Medicine
HANNAH VALANTINE (NAM), Stanford University
CLYDE W. YANCY (NAM), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
MARK ALEXANDER (Ex Officio Member), 100 Black Men of America, Inc.
MARIE A. BERNARD (Ex Officio Member), National Institutes of Health
IVORY DEAN (Ex Officio Member), Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
GARTH N. GRAHAM (NAM) (Ex Officio Member), Google, Inc.
IAN HENRY (Ex Officio Member), Procter & Gamble Company
JOHN R. LUMPKIN (NAM) (Ex Officio Member), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation
SHIRLEY MALCOM (NAS) (Ex Officio Member), American Association for the Advancement of Science
ALFRED MAYS (Ex Officio Member), Burroughs Wellcome Fund
LAMONT R. TERRELL (Ex Officio Member), GlaxoSmithKline
Staff
ANDRÉ N. PORTER, Senior Program Officer, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine
MARIA LUND DAHLBERG, Director, Board on Higher Education and Workforce
LYNNETTE LUSENAKA, Program Officer
REGINALD HAYES, Associate Program Officer
JOHN VERAS, Associate Program Officer
KARLA RILEY, Senior Program Assistant
MARQUITA WHITING, Senior Program Assistant
Preface
It has been my honor to serve as chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and to serve as the editor of the remarkable series of proceedings publications from the Roundtable. Our work began in 2015, when I and leaders of the W. Montague Cobb/National Medical Association Health Institute recognized the growing absence of Black men in medical schools. In fact, levels of Black men entering medical school reached a historic low in the 2015 and 2016 years. Starting in 2016, and with financial support from important partners such as the Aetna Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Connecticut Legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, we began planning a National Academies workshop on issues surrounding the absence of Black men in medicine. The joint workshop, entitled “The Growing Absence of Black Men in Medicine and Science,” took place in 2017. The workshop was the first of its kind, in that, to my knowledge, it was the first National Academies activity specifically focused on issues involving Black people. The proceedings of that workshop is entitled An American Crisis: The Growing Absence of Black Men in Medicine and Science. Its historic release was in May 2018, and corresponded to a briefing on the subject of Black men and medicine with the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C. The briefing included leadership from the W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute; the National Medical Association; the National Academies, including Dr. Victor Dzau, president
of the National Academy of Medicine; and workshop participants. Many of the ideas that emerged from the workshop have been embraced by academia, industry, and philanthropy, and since the workshop and proceedings release, progress has been made. But we recognized that much more needed to be done.
Our next steps involved the development of a more permanent presence in the National Academies to discuss issues surrounding Black men and Black women in science, engineering, and medicine. With support from our anchor partners named above, along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and the University of Pittsburg, the Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine was launched late in 2019. I am grateful to the steering committee members for the Roundtable: Drs. L. D. Britt, Cedric M. Bright, George Q. Daley, Randall C. Morgan Jr., Elizabeth O. Ofili, Vivian W. Pinn, and Louis W. Sullivan.
The Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine has continued to grow and flourish. Funding for the Roundtable comes from public-sector entities such as the National Institutes of Health, private companies such as Johnson & Johnson, and private foundations including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. It is gratifying to see the hard work and expertise of the Roundtable membership and Roundtable National Academies staff being so acknowledged.
In October 2022, the Roundtable convened the workshop entitled “Community Support, Partnerships, and Inclusive Environments for Black Students and Professionals in Science, Engineering, and Medicine.” The workshop focused on the development of local, regional, and national opportunities to engage with and leverage community support and mutually beneficial partnerships that build inclusive environments for Black undergraduate, graduate, and medical students. There are a number of successful paradigms to the goals. The workshop intended to discuss a myriad of theories, methods, and accomplishments in bringing communities together. At the same time, the workshop’s intended goal was to discuss the challenges and opportunities that Black students and professionals face and ideas for next steps. Overall, the workshop was highly successful and emphasized the mobilization of the “whole community” in achieving the goal of creating sea changes in the numbers of Black men and Black women successfully pursuing careers in science, engineering, and medicine.
I am grateful to the co-chairs of the workshop, Dr. André Churchwell of Vanderbilt University and Dr. Shirley Malcom of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science for organizing this important Roundtable workshop. I also want to thank the steering committee for their considerable expenditures of time and talent. This proceedings, Community Support, Partnerships, and Inclusive Environments for Black Students and Professionals in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, underscores that, in the African tradition, it takes a village to create truly successful people. I am happy to see the publication of this proceedings and its important and uplifting message.
I close by quoting Dr. Churchwell when he said that work on this subject will go on for a long time because the challenges are myriad, siloed, and not as connected as they could be: “I see the work of this Roundtable being a voice of reason and social conscience for the scientists in America, for the [National Academies], and [for] others who work in this space.” Indeed, the Roundtable has served as a voice of reason and social consciousness for scientists in America. The proceedings here emphasize the importance of a porous academic community working seamlessly and collaboratively with greater communities toward maximal benefit and outcomes for Black men and Black women in science, engineering, and medicine. As with our previous proceedings, this document is meant to move us to action.
Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. (NAS/NAE/NAM)
Chair, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine University Professor, University of Connecticut
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Acknowledgments
This Proceedings of a Workshop was prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what was presented and discussed at the workshop. The planning committee’s role was limited to planning and convening the workshop. The statements made are those of the rapporteur and do not necessarily represent positions of the workshop participants as a whole, the planning committee, or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. We wish to extend sincere thanks to all the members of the planning committee for their contributions in scoping, developing, and carrying out this project.
This Proceedings of a Workshop was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published proceedings as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.
We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this proceedings:
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the content of the proceedings nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this proceedings was overseen by MARILYN BAKER, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this proceedings was carried out in accordance with standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the rapporteurs and the National Academies.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
| AAAS | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| AACC | American Association of Community Colleges |
| AAMC | Association of American Medical Colleges |
| ADE | Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship program |
| AHA | American Heart Association |
| ASEE | American Society for Engineering Education |
| BCSP | Biomedical Science Careers Program |
| ChiS&E | Chicago Pre-College Science and Engineering Program |
| DAPCEP | Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program |
| DEI | diversity, equity, and inclusion |
| EASE | Extended Access to STEM Empowerment lab |
| ECU | East Carolina University |
| EDI | equity, diversity, and inclusion |
| GWCP | George Westinghouse College Prep |
| HABLAMoS | Hispanic And Bilingual Ambulatory Medical Studies program |
| HBCU | Historically Black Colleges and Universities |
| HESJAR | Health Equity, Social Justice, & Anti-Racism Thread |
| HMS | Harvard Medical School |
| HRSA | Health Resources and Services Administration |
| JEDI | Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion |
| MCAT | Medical College Admission Test |
| MIRROR | Movement to Invest in Reciprocity and Re-imagine Outreach Relationships |
| MSI | Minority-Serving Institution |
| NIH | National Institutes of Health |
| NURTURE | Northwestern University Recruitment to Transform Under-Representation and achieve Equity |
|
PRIME LEAD-ABC |
Programs in Medical Education Leadership Education to Advance Diversity – African, Black and Caribbean program |
| REACH | Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health grant |
| SEM | science, engineering, and medicine |
| STEM | science, technology, engineering, and mathematics |
| STRIVE | Student to Resident Institutional Vehicle for Excellence |
| UCSF | University of California, San Francisco |
| UiM | underrepresented in medicine |
| URM | underrepresented minorities |
5 Institutional Investments in Inclusive Education
PERSPECTIVES FROM NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
PERSPECTIVES FROM RESEARCH AT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
DAPCEP: DETROIT AREA PRE-COLLEGE ENGINEERING PROGRAM
6 Inclusive Excellence and Leadership
FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND FINAL THOUGHTS
OVERVIEW OF ORGANIZATIONS REPRESENTED
8 Making Institutional Walls More Porous
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