N-ABL

Dean’s Breakfast

February 25, 2023

Land Acknowledgment statement

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca and, most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

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Agenda

1. Intros and welcome (5min)

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• N-ABL Team, Background, and pillars (5min)

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• N-ABL updates and recommendations (15min)

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4) Discussion (35min)

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Team

Background

In 2020, the Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario (BPAO), in partnership with Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) leaders from all six medical schools in Ontario, agreed in principle to the establishment of such a network.

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-N-ABL is supported by Council of Ontario Faculties of Medicine (COFM)

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A six-pillar framework guides the Network’s endeavor to support Black medical learners matriculating through medical schools and training programs

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We envision this Network as a partnership that can only be successfully implemented via intentional, cross-institutional collaboration

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6 Pillars

1. Curriculum
2. Mentorship
3. Pathways for reporting incidents of racism and mistreatment
4. Wellness
5. Data collection, monitoring and evaluation
6. Transition from learner to physician

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Full Document can be downloaded here - N-ABL – BPAO – Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario

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If you would like to learn more about the N-ABL Project, please connect with us at nabl@bpao.org.

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Updates

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1. Recruitment of steering committee members

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2. Establishment of 4 working groups

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3. Data collection and environmental scans (ex. Mentorship programs, list of racism reporting pathways, etc…)

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4. Recommendations to medical schools

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5. Scholarly work

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Steering committee members

Dr. Abel Berhe

Caroline Jobim

Celina Caesar-Chavannes

Chenai Kadungure

Dr. Chiebere Ogbuneke

Dr. Cindy Maxwell

Claudia Lewandowski

Dr. Hadal El-Hadi

Ike Okafor

Dr. Jedrin Ngungu

Dr. Joseph LeBlanc

Julianah Oguntala

Dr. Mireille Norris

Dr. Modupe Tunde-Byass

Dr. Mojola Omole

Dr. Natasha Johnson

Dr Nazik Hammad

Dr. Oyedeji Ayonrinde

Dr Rachelle Shirley

Dr. Seyi Akinola

Dr. Sharon Whiting

Dr. Yemi Laosebikan

Dr. Zainab Doleeb

Updates

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1. Recruitment of steering committee members

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2. Establishment of 4 working groups

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3. Data collection and environmental scans (ex. Mentorship programs, list of racism reporting pathways, etc…)

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4. Recommendations to medical schools

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5. Scholarly work

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4 working groups

1. Curriculum

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2. Mentorship and Transition from learner to physician

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3. Pathways for reporting incidents of racism and mistreatment + Data collection, monitoring and evaluation

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4. Wellness

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Updates

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1. Recruitment of steering committee members

​

2. Establishment of 4 working groups

​

3. Data collection and environmental scans (ex. Mentorship programs, list of racism reporting pathways, etc…)

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4. Recommendations to medical schools

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5. Scholarly work

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Surveys and Environmental scans

• Collaboration with N-ABL and AFMC on the 2022 Survey of Canadian Medical Schools Addressing Anti-Black Racism:
• The AFMC Committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism (EDI & AR) is working in partnership with The Black Medical Student Association of Canada (BMSAC) and the Network for the Advancement of Black Learners (NABL) to gather information about how the 17 Canadian Faculties of Medicine are responding to the BMSAC’s Calls to Action released in June of 2020, and to better understand the current landscape of anti-racism initiatives and support for Black students and learners in medical education.

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• N-ABL environmental scans of active mentorship programs for Black learners, access to Black counselors, and cultural safety features for Black learners within existing reporting pathways (ex. Black staff/faculty points of contact, access to wellness resources)

Updates

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1. Recruitment of steering committee members

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2. Establishment of 4 working groups

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3. Data collection and environmental scans (ex. Mentorship programs, list of racism reporting pathways, etc…)

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4. Recommendations to medical schools

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5. Scholarly work

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Curriculum recommendations

• Having a Black Health Theme lead for MD and PGME

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• Featuring N-ABL during annual academic or research day presentations

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• Using a critical race theory lens and teaching of race as a SDOH

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• Addressing conflation of race and genetics with respect to clinical outcomes

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• Inclusion of racialized standardized and volunteer patients

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• A number of schools have started to address this, i.e. Toronto & Queens but diversity in dermatology-based patient presentations

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Curriculum recommendations

• Faculty development on how to incorporate anti-racist frameworks into curriculum
• Utilize the expertise of scholars trained in critical race theory when making curricular changes

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• Implementation of BHEC modules to address the history of anti-Black racism in medicine and medical education

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• Emphasis how these historical concepts are still relevant today

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Mentorship and LTP Recommendations

• Increasing mentorship opportunities and fostering a better sense of community among Black physicians through some of the following actions:

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• Enhanced access to research opportunities

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• Proper compensation for the work ((i.e it has to be at least in line with minimum wage requirements, but preferably higher to offer an incentive)

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• Hiring individuals from marginalized backgrounds as mentors would help build this sense of community and relationships and/or providing a pool of funds that can be accessed by those Black Faculty, Staff and learners that act as mentors

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• Recognizing mentorship provided by Faculty as scholarly work and incentivizing participation similarly to how teaching and research are recognized.

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Mentorship and LTP Recommendations

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• Rather than creating more mentorship programs, helping to strengthen existing ones.

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• Helping expand membership for various Black organizations (e.g. Black Physicians of Canada, Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario and Black Medical Students’ Association of Canada.

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• This can be done by annually sending out emails to UGME and PGME listservs/newsletter encouraging enrolment with these organizations.
• Collaborating on regular communications

Reporting Pathways Recommendations

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• Establishing accessible, confidential and easy reporting methods that ensures a student's safety and confidentiality. This would create a safe and confidential space for Black students to express any concerns without being fearful of further racism.

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• Having the first point of contact be a Black staff and having wellness resources (which would include Black counselors) for staff to connect to

Reporting Pathways Recommendations

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• Having all faculty who are leads or who are part of the reporting pathway undergo a mandatory cultural sensitivity/ competency training

• Ideally there would be a national standard for this training which would be mandatory for all Faculty who lead reporting pathways across Canada.

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• MD and PGME taking steps to promote existing pathways to learners, and also working with BMSAs and the BPAO to ensure information also exists at the grassroots level

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Reporting Pathways Recommendations

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• Policies to ensure learners are not penalized for reporting racist behaviour from students, faculty and staff

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• Ensure perpetrators are held accountable for discriminatory behaviour

Wellness Recommendations

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• Establishing mental health support for Black learners, specifically access to more Black counselors through one of the following ways:

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• Hiring more Black counselors at each school
• Pooling resources to hire Black counselors
• Forming a memorandum of understanding between a healthcare organization (ex. CAMH) and working with their respective Black counselors

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• Schools to enhance access to wellness programs for Black and Indigenous learners with financial support (e.g. grants)

Wellness Recommendations

• Promoting and strengthening community
• e.g. Funding and support of Black Medical Students’ Association which organizes socials and gatherings for members (e.g. AGM)

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• Communications strategies to actively fight against imposter syndrome or fear that Black students are less qualified to be at medical school
• Highlighting Black excellence → ensure this is not only done as part of Black History Month, but year-round

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• The University of Toronto had a campaign called “We Belong” where all students were given pins with this statement and repeatedly told, “We all belong. No one is here by accident or by luck of some algorithm.”

Data Collection Recommendations

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• Leverage existing resources through the completion of BMSAC x NABL x AFMC survey which assesses progress on the 2020 BMSAC Calls to Action which relates to the 6 N-ABL pillars

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• Contemplate similar social accountability frameworks like “Black at Temerty” which enables an institution to report back to Black community members

Updates

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1. Recruitment of steering committee members

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2. Establishment of 4 working groups

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3. Data collection and environmental scans (ex. Mentorship programs, list of racism reporting pathways, etc…)

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4. Recommendations to medical schools

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5. Scholarly work

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Scholarly production

Oral presentation:

Building a provincial system of support for Black Learners in Ontario Medical Schools

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Monday, April 17th 8am

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Methods

BPAO shared its recommendations for the establishment of a network in 2020, and through the development of a provincial network and national partners, wise practices are being shared with learners, staff and faculty across six Ontario school to support Black learners.

Results

The collaboration resulted in an active organization which is currently working on addressing issues related to the following six themes of 1) curriculum, 2) mentorship, 3) pathways for reporting incidents of racism and mistreatment, 4) wellness, 5) data collection, monitoring and evaluation, 6) transition from learner to physician, through a working group structure.

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Discussion

An Afrocentric asset-based approach of sharing wise practices across Ontario medical schools, and developing new resources which include the perspectives of Black faculty, staff and learners is supporting the enhancement of the Black learner experience and increased social accountability for medical schools

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Discussion

1. How can we effectively partner with your school to achieve each of the following recommendations?

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2. Where do you see opportunities arising in the short, middle or long-term?

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3. How can we work together to ensure that the Black Faculty, staff and learners doing this work at each institution are well supported?

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4. Other thoughts or suggestions

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