Residency program awarded grant to promote a more equitable U.S. health system

The Internal Medicine Residency Program at Hillsboro Medical Center, an OHSU partner, has received a $20,000 grant from the Building Trust and Equity in Internal Medicine Training Grant Program for a diversity, equity and inclusion needs assessment.

The grant will fund an assessment of structural racism among the local Latinx population needing chronic disease care at our ambulatory clinics. Brian Ricci, M.D., and Nandita C. Gupta, M.D., are the principal investigators on the grant.

“Declining trust impacts nearly every facet of society, and health care is no exception,” said Nandita C. Gupta, M.D., Medical Director, Cardiovascular Service Line. “We are honored to be selected as a grantee to tackle mistrust and address health care diversity, equity and inclusion in medical education and training.”

The grant will allow Hillsboro Medical Center to:

• Assess structural racism among the Latinx population in Hillsboro, OR
• Develop an anti-racism and structural competency curriculum based on findings from focus groups
• Assess the impact of the curriculum on resident attitudes, knowledge and self-efficacy at identifying elements of structural racism

“The goal is to develop an anti-racism health care curriculum specific to the needs the Latinx population,” said Brian Ricci, M.D., program director, Internal Medicine Residency Program. “By co-developing our curriculum with community partners and Latinx patients, we hope to raise awareness among health care providers of the adverse impacts of structural racism.”

There were 170 applicants for the grant. HMC competed with major academic medical centers, including George Washington University and Stanford University, to win the highest-level award. The award, presented by the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the ABIM Foundation, the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, is one of 32, totaling $287,500.

The U.S. health care system has fallen short in numerous aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), such as insufficient diversity among clinicians and poorer health outcomes among underserved communities. By studying the local Latinx population’s experience of structural racism, the grant will help give us a clearer picture on how they are adversely affected by providers and the health care system.