5 Physician Organizations Award Nearly $300K to Support DEI Training

The awarded money will go toward university and healthcare organizations that address DEI in their internal medicine education and training.

Five physician organizations have awarded almost $300,000 to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in healthcare, according to a Thursday morning announcement.

The Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the ABIM Foundation, the American College of Physicians (ACP), and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation donated $287,500 to 32 different healthcare organizations and medical schools to further incorporate DEI into their internal medicine education and training to address bias and discrimination, a factor that has led to mistrust in the healthcare system.

Over the past year, providers have increased their focus on DEI efforts due to the pandemic exacerbating healthcare disparities in the communities that they serve.

"The Alliance is proud of this initiative advancing DEI in undergraduate and graduate medical education. The critical work of the 32 grant recipients will resonate throughout AAIM's member institutions and across the internal medicine community," L. James Nixon, MD, chair of the AAIM Board of Directors and vice chair for education in the Department of Medicine at University of Minnesota Medical School, said in a statement.

The organizations will receive grants of $20,000, $5,000, or $2,500, depending on the size and scope of their programs.

These initiatives will include identifying community barriers to healthcare, creating a detailed curriculum on how to address diverse communities' needs, increasing medicine residents' education of social issues in the communities, identifying community resources, and addressing systemic racism and other social determinants of health.

"We congratulate the recipients of this grant and look forward to their efforts to advance DEI and to create more equity in health systems by incorporating DEI into the fabric of internal medicine education and training," George M. Abraham, MD, MPH, FACP, president of ACP, said in a statement. "Dedicated work in this area will benefit medical professionals and the patients they treat so that our health care system can be more just and equitable. The results of these grants will also benefit organizations, trainees, internists, their patients and their communities."

The second round of grant funding will be awarded later this year with additional funding from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. Grants will be awarded to organizations that "emphasize inter-professional projects that incorporate members across the care team."

"This past year has made it ever more clear that building trust with our patients is central to a health care system that will truly meet the needs and provide the most effective care for all," Holly J. Humphrey, MD, MACP, president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, said in a statement. "I commend this initiative in tapping what is our greatest resource – the creativity, commitment and passion that diverse members of care teams bring to the cause of achieving equity in health."

Organizations receiving grants from the first round of funding include: