AAMC Statement on Police Brutality and Racism in America and Their Impact on Health
June 1, 2020
David J. Skorton, MD, president and CEO of the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) and David A. Acosta, MD, AAMC chief diversity and inclusion officer, released the following statement:
“For too long, racism has been an ugly, destructive mark on America’s soul. Throughout our country’s history, racism has affected every aspect of our collective national life—from education to opportunity, personal safety to community stability, to the health of people in our cities large and small, and in rural America.
Over the past three months, the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the racial health inequities harming our Black communities, exposing the structures, systems, and policies that create social and economic conditions that lead to health disparities, poor health outcomes, and lower life expectancy.
Now, the brutal and shocking deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have shaken our nation to its core and once again tragically demonstrated the everyday danger of being Black in America. Police brutality is a striking demonstration of the legacy racism has had in our society over decades. This violence has eroded trust of the police within Black and other communities of color who are consistently victims of marginalization, focused oppression, racial profiling, and egregious acts of discrimination."
CFAS Member Society Signatories:
- Academy for Professionalism in Health Care (APHC)
- Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM)
- American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP)
- American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
- American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training (AADPRT)
- American College of Academic Addiction Medicine (ACAAM)
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
- American Psychiatric Association
- American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM)
- American Society of Nephrology (ASN)
- Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL)
- Association of Bioethics Programs Directors (ABPD)
- Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry (ADMSEP)
- Association of Pathology Chairs (APC)
- Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR)
- Association of Professors of Dermatology (APD)
- Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO)
- Association of University Professors of Neurology (AUPN)
- Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO)
- Association of University Radiologists (AUR)
- International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE)
- Society of Academic Associations of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine (SAAAPM)
- Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM)
- Society of Directors of Research in Medical Education (SDRME)
- Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM)
- Society of Surgical Chairs (SSC)
- Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM)
- Society of University Surgeons (SUS)
CFAS Societies with their own Statements:
- AcademyHealth
- Academy for Professionalism in Health Care (APHC)
- American Association for Anatomy (AAA)
- Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM)
- American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
- American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM)
- American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
- Association of Academic Physiatrists
- American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training (AADPRT)
- American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP)
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
- American College of Physicians (ACP)
- American College of Radiology (ACR)
- American Psychiatric Association
- American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
- American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
- American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM)
- Association of Bioethics Programs Directors (ABPD)
- Association of Departments of Family Medicine
- Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry (ADMSEP)
- Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR)
- Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (AAIM)
- Association of University Anesthesiologists
- Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO)
- International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE)
- Society of Academic Associations of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine (SAAAPM)
- Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM)
- Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM)
- Society of University Surgeons (SUS)
Other signatories:
- American College of Psychiatrists
- American Psychological Association
- Association for Academic Psychiatry