You Might Be Surprised...

Think a topic such as A&P may not be fraught with bias as is the other areas of our field? Think again! The same structural bias and racism that informs areas of our field such as language also informs the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of our field - and other health professions.

So How Does Racism & Bias Manifest in A&P?

Here is a non-inclusive list of examples.

• Predominant use of white subjects in photographs of structures
  • While this has particular implications for the practice of dermatology students, this type of white-centering implies white is the "typical" experience and moves PGM (people of the global majority) to the periphery.
  • Read about how a med student is diversifying medical images.
• Misinformation (either from use of old studies or persistence of outdated clinical instruction) regarding alleged anatomical and physiological differences
  • Racist ideologies, such as "black people do not feel pain", still exist within clinical practice at an alarming rate.
• Historic work and images
  • Pernkopf Topographic Anatomy of Man, a book no longer in publication but still widely used by surgeons, is comprised of anatomic drawings of the most precise and detailed nature completed during the dissection of hundreds of victims of the Nazi regime.
    • While this applies more to the study of pathology and the practice of medicine, it is important to remember that early - and even more modern - medical research and investigation occurred to the detriment of minoritized populations. The experimentation of the "father of gynecology" (J. Marion Sims) on enslaved women without anesthesia, the Tuskegee syphilis study, the experimentation on Henrietta Lack's cells (of which she had no knowledge and gave no consent), and the early birth control trials on Puerto Rican women without informed consent are only some of the most well-known examples of racism in human subject research.
    • It is important to note that of the four well-known cases mentioned, three of them were completed on women.
• Technology
  • As facial recognition, topical sensors, and artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly play a role in both health management and wellness wearables, we see other ways in which white centered and often male focused technology are not built to serve all equally. In addition to the links below, please see links in Racism & Bias in Tech.

Books

Please note: These links will take you to Amazon. I am NOT an Amazon associate and do not receive any reimbursement from your clicking these links.

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present

Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Links

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