Black Health
The brutal killing of George Floyd, a Black American man murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2020, made the reality of anti-Black racism known to the entire world in an unprecedented way. This collective awareness inspired a generation of Black Canadians to demand change, a movement that was especially potent on university campuses across the nation. In response to this growing call for change and substantive justice, a group of dedicated Black medical students — Adesewa Adeleye, Ruth Legese, Anulika Nwakaeze, Ibrahim Sadiq and Yusuf Yousuf — developed the Black Medical Students’ Association Calls to Action, a foundational document outlining the steps the U of A needs to take to advance Black health. The Black health portfolio has been singularly focused on answering these calls to action, as a means of honoring the legacy of these pioneering medical students and creating meaningful change in the MD program.
The MD program has committed to the full implementation of the BMSA Calls to Action by 2025.
Meet the Black health lead
Dr. Eniola Salami completed medical school and family medicine residency training at the U of A. She is an assistant professor with the Department of Family Medicine and the inaugural Black Health Lead in the MD program.
Dr. Salami is clinical preceptor at the Grey Nuns Family Medicine Centre, where she teaches medical students and residents.
Nationally, Dr. Salami is a member of the AFMC Committee on Black Health, Innovation and Advancement and served as a member of the Health Advocate Expert working group for CanMeds 25. Dr. Salami's areas of interest include Black health curriculum and program development, anti-racism education and reporting mechanism development.
Black health lead position description »
Black health Curriculum
Since 2021, Black health educational offerings have been greatly expanded in the MD program. There has been a conscious effort to separate anti-Black racism from EDI content explicitly as a matter of principle and this has been enforced throughout our educational offerings in pre-clerkship. Black health is recognized as a formal stream in our Longitudinal Themes course and a subject-matter area in our curriculum offerings with clear and testable objectives. Our Black health curriculum has been expanded to include the following.
One-hour introduction to anti-racism
A critical assessment of biological essentialism and race essentialism in medicine, which is presented to medical students in their first month of pre-clerkship.
One-hour lecture on anti-Black racism in medicine
A clear focus on the history of medicine as it pertains to anti-Black racism. Specific attention is also paid to how anti-Black racism manifests in medical evidence and scholarship, medical school structures and medical school curricula. This historical analysis includesspecific teaching around slavery and colonial violence against Black Canadians and the enmeshment of anti-Black racism in the structure and function of medical schools. There is also specific mention of how the medicalization of race is weaponized against Black people in Canada.
Two-hour physicianship discussion group on anti-Black racism
This session incorporates a made-for-U of A documentary on Black identity in medicine as well as discussion/reflection questions on core concepts regarding anti-racism, anti-Black racism, microaggressions and allyship.