Geisinger Commonwealth students attend 2018 Racism in Medicine Conference

On Nov. 17, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) faculty member, Dr. Vicki Sapp, and 23 GCSOM students traveled to Drexel University’s College of Medicine to attend the 2018 Racism in Medicine Conference.

Since 2015, medical students from Pennsylvania and New Jersey have collaborated to host the conference, whose purpose is to provide an opportunity for people in healthcare or related fields to examine the ways that racism affects the health of marginalized people and to develop strategies to oppose it.

It is the second year GCSOM has participated and the first year that a GCSOM faculty member presented and a GCSOM student, Ashanti Littlejohn, was appointed to the Inter School Planning Committee.

Loren Robinson, MD, deputy secretary for health promotion and disease prevention for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, delivered the keynote address, “Racism as a Social Determinant of Health.” Vicki T. Sapp, PhD, GCSOM’s director of student engagement, diversity and inclusion, presented a break-out session entitled, “Understanding and Interrupting Microaggressions in Medical School Education.” Other speakers included Dorothy Roberts, JD, an acclaimed scholar of race, gender and law who is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Sharrelle Barber, ScD, MPH, assistant research professor, epidemiology and biostatistics at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health.

Geisinger Commonwealth co-sponsored the conference together with the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

About Geisinger
Geisinger is committed to making better health easier for the more than 1 million people it serves. Founded more than 100 years ago by Abigail Geisinger, the system now includes 10 hospital campuses, a health plan with more than half a million members, a research institute and the Geisinger College of Health Sciences, which includes schools of medicine, nursing and graduate education. With more than 25,000 employees and 1,700+ employed physicians, Geisinger boosts its hometown economies in Pennsylvania by billions of dollars annually. Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.