As ACEP commemorates Black History Month, we want to spotlight a few members who are making a big impact in our specialty.
Breaking Barriers and Pushing for Health Equity
This special episode of ACEP Frontline features a wide-ranging group discussion with changemakers Ugo Ezenkwele, MD, FACEP, Adaira Landry, MD, and Alister Martin, MD. The panelists discuss their perspectives on representation, mentorship, allyship, imposter syndrome, health equity/access.
Dr. Martin is also featured in the February edition of ACEP Now.
"I just want to be a part of the solution. Logically, I think you can only do emergency medicine for so long before you start to get really upset and moved by the everyday violence of poverty our patients face, or the fact we are the only doctors some of these folks will ever have. Emotionally, I’m moved by the fact that in communities like the one I grew up in in New Jersey, the margin for error is so thin, that a slip one way or the other could result in an irreparable situation. It’s my job to try and do what I can to put my thumb on the scale for the vulnerable in the types of communities like the one where I grew up to the extent that I can."
- Alister Martin, MD
What's it like to be the Chief Medical Officer for Netflix?
Dr. Tonya Walker’s first love was public health, and it’s that passion that has guided her into a variety of unique jobs in emergency medicine. Now, two years into her role as the first Chief Medical Officer and Director of Employee Health at Netflix, she uses her past training in emergency medicine, public health, and occupational medicine to care for the global teams that power one of the largest streaming services in the entertainment industry. Read more.
More Updates from ACEP
- ACEP Elects First Black President: On Thursday, Sept. 29, Aisha T. Terry, MD, MPH, FACEP, from Washington, D.C., was elected ACEP’s new President-elect. Dr. Terry is serving a one year as President-elect before becoming ACEP President during ACEP23 in Philadelphia. She was first elected to the Board in 2017 and served as Vice President of the Board in 2021-22. It’s a historic moment for ACEP; Dr. Terry will become ACEP’s first Black president.
- ACEP Establishes Diversity, Inclusion & Health Equity Committee: In June, Dr. Ugo Ezenkwele became chair of ACEP's new Diversity, Inclusion & Health Equity Committee. The committee will advise the Board of Directors in four key areas: Health Equity & Advocacy, Data Collection & Monitoring, Organizational Accountability, and Education & Clinical Guidelines.
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Black History Month 2022
The 2022 theme, Black Health and Wellness, highlights the history of Black health care clinicians while bringing awareness to health inequities that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
To mark this occasion, ACEP has collected resources from its education offerings and publication archives to provide insights into Black Health and Wellness from the emergency medicine perspective.
Get Connected
ACEP's Diversity, Inclusion & Health Equity Section provides a forum for members of the College to develop a knowledge base, share information, receive and give counsel, and serve as a resource to others interested in this area of emergency medicine. DIHE and EMRA have partnered together on a Diversity Mentoring Initiative.
Listen In
On a new episode of the ACEP Frontline podcast, we celebrate Black History Month and diversity in emergency medicine. Drs. Ray Johnson and Sandra Coker, prominent physician members of the ACEP family, share their experiences and challenges working in emergency medicine. Dr. Johnson has been an active ACEP member for more than 30 years, serving in leadership roles with the ACEP Board of Directors and ABEM. Dr. Coker is an EM resident who founded Black Girl White Coat, a nonprofit providing guidance, representation, mentorship, and scholarship for aspiring health care students and professionals who identify as Black or Latinx.
Education & Tools
- Point-of-care tool: Managing Sickle Cell Disease in the ED
- Webinar: Sickle Cell Disease: Morbidity, Mortality, and Emergency Management
- Resource library collected by the ED Sickle Cell Care Coalition
- Free e-CME course: Unconscious Bias in Clinical Practice
- Abstract Session: Disparities and Public Health
- Webinar -- This is Our Shot: How EM Docs Can Empower Patients to End the Pandemic
ACEP Trailblazers
- A Q&A with Dr. John Lumpkin, a Pioneer in EM (ACEP Now, 2019)
- Three EM Icons Offer Advice for Overcoming Diversity & Inclusion Challenges (ACEP Now, 2017)
ACEP Now
You can find an archive of articles related to Black Health and Wellness dating back to 2016 on the ACEP Now website, but here are a few recent highlights:
- Addressing Bias, Racism and Disparities in the Emergency Department (2021)
- Moving from Race-Based to Race-Conscious Care (2021)
- Pulse Oximetry, Race and COVID-19 (2021)
- Diversity Should Be a Priority (2020)
Annals of Emergency Medicine
Annals continues to add to its Equity in Health Care collection, but here's a quick preview of some recent articles:
- The Time Is Now: Racism and the Responsibility of Emergency Medicine to Be Antiracist (2021)
- Dear White People in Emergency Medicine (2021)
- A Survey-Based Needs Assessment of Barriers to Optimal Sickle Cell Disease Care in the Emergency Department (2020)
- Addressing the Urgent Need for Racial Diversification in Emergency Medicine (2020)
JACEP Open
- Factors associated with clinical severity in emergency department patients presenting with symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection (2021)
- Diversity pipelines: The rationale to recruit and support minority physicians (2021)
- Overcoming barriers to promotion for women and underrepresented in medicine faculty in academic emergency medicine (2021)
