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Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development Volume 7: 1–6 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/2382120520965246 Introduction Abundant evidence demonstrates the existence of racial health disparities in the United States, as well as the role of the American medical system in perpetuating structural racism. 1 At present, many medical school curricula address race within courses aimed primarily at increasing “cultural competency.” 2 Yet there is little existing research on medical school curricula designed to address race and racism in medicine specifically. Researchers have demonstrated that racial discrimination alone is a risk factor for poor health outcomes. 1,3 As aptly described by Metzl and Hansen, “We contend that medical education needs to more systematically train health-care professionals to think about how such variables as race, class, gender, and eth- nicity are shaped both by the interactions of two persons in a room, and by the larger structural contexts in which their inter- actions take place.” 4 Metzl and Hansen argue for a curriculum that can not only treat a patient’s physical complaints, but rec- ognize how “social and economic determinants, biases, inequi- ties, and blind spots shape health and illness long before doctors or patients enter examination rooms.” 4 There is an urgent need Toward an Anti-Racist Curriculum: Incorporating Art into Medical Education to Improve Empathy and Structural Competency Bria Adimora Godley *1 , Diana Dayal *1 , Elizabeth Manekin 2 and Sue E Estroff 1 1 University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. 2 Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: There is an urgent need for medical school curricula that address the effects of structural influences, particularly racism, on health, healthcare access, and the quality of care for people of color. Underrepresented racial minorities in the United States receive worse health care relative to their White counterparts. Structural competency, a framework for recognizing and understanding social influ- ences on health, provides a means for understanding the structural violence that results from and perpetuates racism in classroom and clini- cal education. Some medical schools have incorporated art into their curricula to increase empathy generally, yet few programs use art to address racial disparities in medicine specifically. OBJECTIVE: “Can We Talk About Race?” (CWTAR) aims to increase medical students’ empathy for racial minorities and increase the ease and ability of students to address racial issues. CWTAR also provides a unique context for ongoing conversations about racism and struc- tural inequality within the health care system. METHODS: Sixty-four first-year medical students were randomly selected to participate in CWTAR. The on-campus Ackland Art Museum staff and trained student facilitators lead small group discussions on selected artworks. A course evaluation was sent to all participants con- sisting of 4 questions: (1) Likert scale rating the quality of the program, (2) the most important thing learned from the program, (3) any differ- ences between discussion at this program versus other conversations around race, and (4) suggestions for changes to the program. Free text responses were content coded and analyzed to reveal common themes. RESULTS: Out of 64 students, 63 (98%) responded to at least one course evaluation question. The majority (89%) of participants rated the program quality as either “Very Good” or “Excellent.” Of the 37 students who responded to the free text question regarding the most impor- tant thing they learned from the program, 16 (44%) responses revealed students felt that they were exposed to perspectives that differed from their own, and 19% of respondents reported actively viewing a subject through another’s perspective. Of the 33 students who responded to the free text question regarding any differences between discussion at this program versus other conversations around race, 48% noted an increased comfort level discussing race during the program. A common theme in responses to the question regarding suggested changes to the program was a more explicit connection to medicine in the discussion around race. CONCLUSIONS: Student responses to CWTAR suggest that the program is effective in engaging students in discussions of racial issues. More investigation is needed to determine whether this methodology increases empathy among medical students for racial minorities specifically. KEYWORDS: Art, racism, empathy, cultural competency, curriculum, medical education, race relations RECEIVED: June 28, 2020. ACCEPTED: September 14, 2020. TYPE: Methodology FUNDING: The author(s) received no fnancial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING INTERESTS: The author(s) declared no potential conficts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Bria Adimora Godley, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 101 Songbird Lane, Chapel Hill, NC 27009, USA. Email: bria_godley@med. unc.edu 965246MDE 0 0 10.1177/2382120520965246Journal of Medical Education and Curricular DevelopmentGodley et al research-article 2020 *Te authors have informed the journal that they agree that both Bria Adimora Godley and Diana Dayal completed the intellectual and other work typical of the frst author.