A recent push toward addressing antiracism in science reveals a need to integrate discussions of racism, social justice, and equity into undergraduate STEM classes. Toward this end, in Fall 2020, a theme of "Racism is a Public Health Emergency" was incorporated as an overlay for an existing undergraduate biochemistry curriculum. This theme was used throughout the entire semester and involved discussions of racism, social justice, and equity that were directly integrated with the science content of the course. Students enrolled in the class were surveyed at the end of the semester regarding their perceptions of integrating discussions of racism, social justice, and/or equity into chemistry courses. Students indicated that the inclusion of the overlay increased the relevance of the course material, indicated a high level of understanding of the impact of bias and race on the field of biochemistry, and expressed overwhelmingly positive views regarding future inclusion of similar themes of equity and antiracism in chemistry courses. Additionally, student scores and answers on common final exam questions were compared to previous semesters, revealing that the inclusion of this overlay did not negatively impact coverage of biochemistry content.

BACKGROUND: Gender disparities exist in the careers of women in medicine. This review explores the qualitative literature to understand how gender influences professional trajectories, and identify opportunities for intervention. METHODS: A systematic review and thematic synthesis included articles obtained from PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), APA PsycInfo (Ovid), and GenderWatch (ProQuest) on June 26 2020, updated on September 10, 2020. Included studies explored specialty choice, leadership roles, practice setting, burnout, promotion, stigma, mentoring, and organizational culture. Studies taking place outside of the USA, using only quantitative data, conducted prior to 2000, or focused on other health professions were excluded. Data were extracted using a standardized extraction tool and assessed for rigor and quality using a 9-item appraisal tool. A three-step process for thematic synthesis was used to generate analytic themes and construct a conceptual model. The study is registered with PROS-PERO (CRD42020199999). FINDINGS: Among 1524 studies identified, 64 were eligible for analysis. Five themes contributed to a conceptual model for the influence of gender on women's careers in medicine that resembles a developmental socio-ecological model. Gender influences career development externally through culture which valorizes masculine stereotypes and internally shapes women's integration of personal and professional values. CONCLUSION: Medical culture and structures are implicitly biased against women. Equitable environments in education, mentoring, hiring, promotion, compensation, and support for work-life integration are needed to address gender disparities in medicine. Explicit efforts to create inclusive institutional cultures and policies are essential to support a diverse workforce.

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