What Helps Improve Equity in the Academic Health Sciences?
Providing an evidence-based roadmap to advance racial and ethnic equity in the U.S. programs that train, educate and employ the nation's medical professionals.
About the Project
Amid continued debate over how to advance diversity and equity in higher education following the Supreme Court’s decision striking down affirmative action, it is more important than ever to ensure initiatives to increase diversity of academic health science professionals are sustainable and founded in evidence.
The IDEAS (Increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Academic Health Sciences) team, comprised of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Northeastern University, conducted one of the most comprehensive reviews to date of evidence-based strategies for improving racial and ethnic equity in graduate-level health programs. Thirteen strategies emerged across the survey, in-depth interviews and scoping literature review, which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The report findings and recommendations were published in JAMA Health Forum in February 2024.
Lead Researchers
Chief of the Disparities Research Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital and The Mongan Institute
Professor and Associate Director, Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research at Northeastern University
The Study
A Learning Assessment to Increase Diversity in Academic Health Sciences
This report, published in JAMA Health Forum, includes 13 evidence-based strategies for academic institutions, DEI officers, and funders looking for actionable steps to advance racial and ethnic diversity, equity, and inclusion in the academic health sciences.
Results at a Glance
Highlights
✓ Leaders of academic institutions should share findings that advance equity, develop a community of individuals with the power to support and implement change, and provide public access to data to increase transparency and shift power.
✓Diversity strategies are most effective with strong support from funders and buy-in from university leadership.
✓ Interventions aimed at improving diversity and equity appear to be more effective when combined with other actions, like socialization, integration, and retention of diverse faculty and students—as opposed to these strategies being applied singly.
Report recommendations were built on one of the most comprehensive reviews to date on this topic, including:
Sources Reviewed
Qualitative Interviews
Survey Responses Collected