UNMC WC4BL chapter working for change

This week, the UNMC chapter of White Coats for Black Lives (WC4BL) will hold its fourth event since its formation, hosting MD/PhD student Rohan Khazanchi, who will discuss his research in a presentation called “On Structural Racism, Syndemics and Student Advocacy.”

The event will be held Friday, Dec. 11, from noon-1 p.m., via Zoom.

Taoyuan Beninato	Nabilaa Azimi

Carlos Carmona	Ryan Boyland

Kalika Mahato	Ikponmwosa Igbinigie

The WC4BL group has been active since its inception following a “Day of Recognition” event that was held on the medical center campus in June.

WC4BL president Yasmeen Bora, a medical student, said that at the time of the event — part of a nationwide “Day of Recognition” following the killing of George Floyd — a group of medical students already had begun working on a petition of action items requesting changes at the UNMC College of Medicine.

That group founded the UNMC chapter of WC4BL later that summer, with Helen Grace, DO, assistant professor of pediatrics and organizer of the June event at the med center, serving as the faculty advisor. Inaugural board members are Bora, Nabilaa Azimi, Taoyuan Beninato, Ryan Boyland, Carlos Carmona, Ikponmwosa Igbinigie and Kalika Mahato.

“We realized that we needed more ongoing work in this area, and a group for that would be ideal at this school,” Bora said. “A lot of the people who wrote the petition actually were third- and fourth-year students, so they were looking for people to step up and keep the work going.”

Faculty advisor Helen Grace, DO

Bora recruited people to serve on the board for the new organization and wrote a constitution for it, which Dr. Grace reviewed. Just this month, the group has become affiliated with the national WC4BL organization and is recognized by UNMC as an official campus group.

“For a long time, there has been work that needs to be done here at UNMC, such as addressing racial disparities or addressing the treatment of race in our curriculum,” Bora said. “There’s a lot of room for improvement, and now we finally have the kind of general support that we need to get those changes made. It’s vital to the care of our patients for us to address these issues.

“The university and the college have been really open to hearing from us and meeting with us, which we appreciate,” Bora said. She pointed to the establishment of diversity and inclusion chairs for each medical student class, as well as the hiring of Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Shirley Delair, MD, as steps in the right direction.

“They’ve been receptive, although I feel like we’re on different timelines,” Bora said. “But we’re definitely working together.”

The group is run by medical students, but Bora stressed that it is open to any member of the UNMC community – and in fact asked for help on another current project.

In addition to the events it has successfully held, the group is working with the national WC4BL organization on a Racial Justice Report Card — a series of metrics intended to evaluate how well the school is doing on racial justice.

“It explores issues such as how many students of color are there relative to the general population or how many faculty of color?” Bora said. “How segregated is our patient population? What is the racial distribution of various clinics?

“We need help to get that project together, because there’s a great deal of data to go through. So that is an area where people can get involved right now,” she said.

In the current national climate, Bora sees what she hopes is an opportunity for concrete change addressing institutional racism at UNMC.

“I hope that’s the case,” she said. “Because if it’s not going to change now, when will it change?”

But, she added, it will take a commitment from the entire campus.

“We all have the power to make a difference in this area, and it will take all of us to make change,” she said.

For information on joining WC4BL, contact Bora.

For more information on the racial justice report card, contact Ryan Boyland or Tao Beninato.