The Macy Foundation continued to shine a bright light on issues of bias and discrimination in health professions education. Following the release of the 2020 Conference Recommendations, the Macy Foundation launched a webinar series “Taking Action on Harmful Bias and Discrimination in Clinical Learning Environments.” The webinars examined the issue of bias and discrimination in clinical learning environments through a variety of specific lenses that are most relevant to health professions educators and learners. And due to the overwhelming response, the Macy Foundation launched the Vital Voices podcast to continue the important conversations and answer more questions about how best to make our learning environments inclusive and equitable for everyone.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to shape health professionals and health professions education (HPE). The 2021 Macy Conference brought together over 50 faculty, learners, leaders, and other experts and asked them to share their experiences during the pandemic and identify key lessons to be prioritized going forward. They developed consensus recommendations that call for a wide variety of action steps—from expediting the implementation of competency-based, interprofessional HPE to prioritizing institutional adoption of holistic review of HPE applicants to preparing for the next crisis that may require redeployments of HPE learners to unfamiliar roles. In addition to publishing the Conference Recommendations in Academic Medicine, the Macy Foundation shared details of the recommendations and fielded questions by participants during a webinar hosted with the Conference Co-Chairs, Dr. Alison Whelan and Dr. Lepaine Sharp-McHenry.

The Macy Foundation welcomed the 2021 class of Macy Faculty Scholars in September. This group of five outstanding medical and nursing educators are bringing innovative and positive change to their learning institutions. In the spirit of continued growth and continuous quality improvement, the Macy Foundation commissioned an external review committee of national leaders in medical and nursing education to conduct a review and evaluation of the Macy Faculty Scholars Program. After careful review, the Macy Foundation introduced a vision for the next generation of the Macy Faculty Scholars Program in order to broaden the scope and impact of the program.

In alignment with our strategic plan, the Macy Foundation amplified voices seeking to promote diversity, equity, and belonging in health professions education. Through her blog series, Macy Notes, Macy Foundation President, Holly J. Humphrey, MD, spoke with Louis Sullivan, MD, about diversity, equity, and inclusion in health care. During Minority Mental Health Awareness month, she spoke with Sidney Hankerson, MD, about addressing mental health disparities among minority populations with faith- and community-based Interventions. In recognition of Pride Month, Dr. Humphrey spoke with Stephan Davis, DNP, MHSA, about his efforts to promote diversity–in all forms–within the health professions and public health. Dr. Humphrey also interviewed Cristina Gonzalez, MD, in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month on the importance of overcoming implicit bias.

The Macy Foundation highlighted innovative ideas and voices seeking to increase collaboration among health professionals. In honor of National Nurses Month, Holly J. Humphrey, MD, spoke with 2017 Macy Faculty Scholar, Ashley Darcy-Mahoney, PhD, NNP, FAAN, about the Future of Nursing Report released by the National Academy of Medicine and the importance of interprofessional collaboration in achieving health equity. 2020 Macy Faculty Scholars John Burkhardt, MD, PhD, and Benjamin Kinnear, MD, MED, shared their work aimed at redesigning health professions education.

The Macy Foundation supported activities and highlighted efforts to prepare future health professionals to navigate ethical dilemmas. As a part of the Vital Voices podcast and webinar series, Holly J. Humphrey, MD, talked with Sachin Jain, MD, and Pooja Chandrashekar, MD/MBA student, about the difficult topic of interacting and responding to racist patients as health care professionals and trainees. 2020 Macy Faculty Scholar, Tatiana Sadak, PhD, PMHNP, ARNP, RN, discussed her work developing a program to help educational institutions prepare their students to care for patients living with dementia. And 2020 Macy Faculty Scholar, Dimitri Papanagnou, MD, MPH, shared lessons from his work creating a curricula to help students learn creative problem-solving that will serve them in navigating uncertainty in clinical practice.