Acting Against Racism in Departments of Psychiatry

Abstract

In the midst of an unprecedented social movement against racism in America and call to action for all organizational sectors, medicine, both academia and practice, has become a salient focus during this time given the impact of racism on our nation's health. Academic departments of psychiatry, in particular, should be at the forefront of these efforts and have high potential to enact change and lead interventions across their wider institutions. We begin this article by describing the role of race and the impact of structural racism on Black patients and faculty. We go on to discuss the many complex challenges presented by the task of dismantling racist structures in order to build just organizational norms. Finally, we offer initial strategies toward racial equity modeled after those we are implementing and evaluating in our own department. [ Psychiatr Ann . 2020;50(11):499–504.]