White Privilege in a White Coat: How Racism Shaped my Medical Education

Abstract

In this essay, I reflect on some of the ways racial privilege influenced my experience as a white physician in training. While white Americans often think of “racism” as a social construct primarily affecting people of color, “racism” is a system of both racial disadvantage as well as reciprocal racial advantage. Medical professionals are increasingly aware of how social determinants of health lead to important health disparities, however white physicians seldom ask how their own racial privilege reinforces a white supremacist culture and what effects this may have on our patients’ health. Drawing attention to the powerful legacy of racial discrimination in medical institutions, I call on other white physicians to name their privilege in order to dismantle the systems that propagate racism in our profession.