232 medical students graduate from the University of Minnesota's medical school, which supplies 70% of doctors in the state. Unlike years past, these doctors will have more knowledge, tools and understanding about the role of racism in their patient's health.
After the murder of George Floyd, a group of student leaders, demanded the medical school incorporate the effects of racism in its curriculum. Kriti Prasad is a fourth year medical student at the University. The future internal medicine physician was also part of the student-led coalition.
"When I started medical school, I was more surprised by what I wasn't learning," said Prasad. "We talk about diseases and pathologies impacting certain communities more than others, but we weren't quite talking about why that was."
Click here to read the demand letter
Dr. Ana Nunez, is the Vice Dean of Diversity & Inclusion. Nunez says health equity has become important in educating the next generation of health practitioners.
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"The term race based medicine, they act like it's this biologic thing that makes people different, from being people, and that's not true. Some people glibly say 'your zip code is more important than your genetic code.'"
The University agreed to the students' demands, adding anti-racism content to its curricula. But not without a little resistance.
"The biggest pushback that we've experienced is just feeling like there isn't enough time or space in the curriculum to talk about these things," said Prasad.
"There's a lot of content future physicians need to learn. So the pushback comes down to, where are we going to put this content? And if we are going to put it in the curriculum, what's going to have to be taken out?"
Prasad also says some faculty considered the content "unimportant to learn." Others said they lacked the expertise.
So students and faculty collaborated, ironing out the details.
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While the physician class graduating today will better understand how social factors affect health, some wonder if these changes are temporary.
"Given the history of Minneapolis---what's recently happened and continues to happen in our backyard--- we have to take a stand and make sure this is fully integrated permanently into our curriculum."
Dr. Nunez, the Vice Dean adds, "Our students and trainees have a fire in their bellies for disrupting injustice. 'That's just the way it is,' is not an acceptable sentence in their vocabulary. So I'm very, very proud of our medical students who are graduating, they are positive, constructive disrupters."