Thread by @BriChristophers

Alright, I have some thoughts on this op-ed, esp how tradition + legacy are often used as a distraction tactic from diversity/inclusion.

Buckle up for A THREAD.

#MedTwitter #SoMeDocs #DoubleDocs #DiverseDoubleDocs #MedStudentTwitter #WomenInMedicine #DiversityInMedicine

https://twitter.com/jflier/status/1140723898025218048

As always I start my thread by recognizing my own position in this conversation: I am a (proud) Latina woman training to be a physician-scientist. I hold a lot of privilege having attended an Ivy League institution for undergrad and currently training as a #DoubleDocs at another.

My own alma mater #PrincetonU has been recently grappling with its own (problematic) history by taking active steps to diversify iconography + naming around campus. I am proud to say that this is in part due to a meeting I co-hosted as co-president of PLA in combo with other orgs

Background:
🔹Dr. Flier is a professor at and former dean of Harvard Medical School from 2007-2017.
🔹Dr. Flier posted about his dissatisfaction with portraits no longer hanging in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital lecture hall back in April 2019:

https://twitter.com/jflier/status/1116792658435825666?s=21

An article from 2018 describes the rationale for the change:

bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/06/…

In the article Dr. Betsy Nabel, the current president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the FIRST female president of a major Harvard teaching hospital, talks about the responses from residents, students, and employees of the hospital about the wall:

Let’s take a moment and reflect on that, Harvard has 16 affiliated teaching hospitals and Dr. Nabel is the FIRST female president 🤔

List of affiliated Harvard hospitals: hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/hms-…

Interesting observation about the current status of women in leadership at BWH: 2 out of the 15 current departments have #WomenInMedicine chairs.

There is a committee working on determining what will happen next with that space, so maybe something more representative will replace the collage:

Dr. Flier is also not the first to criticize this move, see this piece posted on Medium from Dr. Noorchashm (note the language used to describe the leadership at BWH. Interesting the words chosen to describe the first woman president of BWH)

medium.com/@noorchashm/th…

Now let’s delve deeper into Dr. Flier’s points in the opinion piece.
Here’s a link to it again if you want to follow along for yourself
bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/0…

The title: “Removing”
Yes, the portraits were removed from that one wall, but they were moved to the respective departments of which each of those individuals served as dean/chair. The portraits still exist, they are still on display and no one is denying history.

Dr. Flier describes the auditorium as “sterile” now that the portraits were gone. Most auditoriums I have spent my time in have nothing on the walls (and look a lot like this one) and no one thinks anything of it.

Two unnamed professors, according to Dr. Flier, stated: “Loss of the portraits was sad, they said, but looking around to ensure they weren’t overheard, they said discussion was “no longer possible.””

I assume the committee is open to feedback as most committees are...

He goes on to point out that his earlier April tweet was met with mixed reactions. He recognizes that BWH is more diverse now but then goes on to talk about the “risk” of sharing these views

In his tweets, Dr. Flier reiterates the “fear” of speaking up. Fear of what exactly? Being challenged? Called a “racist?”
All of us take part in “white patriarchy” bc it is a set of social norms passed down.

Some of us push ourselves to challenge our own internal biases and actively break down the barriers societal expectations (and yes white supremacy and patriarchy) place on us.

Something I will also have you note: Harvard Medical School has never had a woman dean.

Out of 22 deans: hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/fact…

Maybe part of the fear is that he recognizes that maybe this theme of moving portraits will catch on and his own portrait might be moved somewhere?

https://twitter.com/harvardmed/status/786945647555571712?s=21

Back to the article: Dr. Flier then goes on to say that moving the portraits is “Erasing and suppressing” history. Moving a portrait to a different location is neither erasure nor suppression, try again.

You know what is exactly erasure and suppression?
🔹Not allowing people to enter medicine
🔹Creating inequitable standards of admissions
🔹Challenging the advancement of individuals
🔹Erasing the contributions happening at the Harvard system and beyond by non-white men

I’ll give an example from my current institution where a bust of Dr. George Papanicolau sits in the opening hallway. Dr. Papanicolau developed the “pap smear,” undoubtedly an important medical advancement.

This homage however does not recognize the contributions of his wife, Mary, who was a technician helping run his lab and who was often an experimental subject herself: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

Back to the article: Dr. Flier goes on to say that the men in the portraits are being judged. No one is saying those men were single-handedly responsible for diversifying medicine.

He then goes on to say that they should put up new things on the wall. Yes, this is the whole point of the committee whose charge is to do just that… And leaving bare walls for a year has sparked conversation and shows action on behalf of the administration as they make changes.

The end of the article should have honestly been the thesis at the start of the piece. It would have been a much more productive starting point than these “heroes” have been removed and now everyone thinks I am a symbol of white patriarchy for saying I don’t like it.

See, Dr. Flier, is saying that the portraits should have been left up in the meantime because they were “giants of the past.” But there is no actual reason that the portraits need to be in that particular space in that arrangement other than “tradition.”

By not leading with his solution to the problem, however, Dr. Flier adds fuel to the cause of those who think this is simply about “identity politics.”

Now I’ll add in thoughts on this subject that others have shared.
Here is an example posted by @AJSharmaMD about an initiative at at the Harvard Public Health School: hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/…

Recent conversation on Twitter about this phenomenon has been happening under the hashtag #DudeWall started by @pollyp1, because it is not limited to BWH or Harvard Medical School.

https://twitter.com/pollyp1/status/1136830628500926464?s=21

Here is a perspective from a current trainee at Yale about the power of portraiture as a Black man in medicine: in-training.org/recency-new-fr…

As for my own feelings, yes, perhaps the portraits didn’t need to be moved. But stirring up controversy over the fact that the portraits no longer get to lord over all in a lecture hall is not productive. No one is erasing white men from history—they literally wrote history.
/end

Here’s @drlindamd’s thread on the topic

https://twitter.com/drlindamd/status/1140807261415182336?s=21

¿Qué piensan, #LatinasInMedicine?
What are your thoughts?
@LatinasInMed @NarjustDumaMD @MariaCMoraP @anavmanana @MVGutierrezMD @DrTeresaMC

Some reflection on “fear.” You wanna know what I fear as a #LatinasInMedicine + #DiverseDoubleDocs?
🔹Making <$ than male + white peers despite my training
🔹Being passed over for jobs, promotions, opp’s bc I am ‘too loud’ or ‘aggressive’ #ThatsBias (cont)

https://twitter.com/brichristophers/status/1141139521150566400?s=21

🔹That I won’t get same training as my classmates bc I will always be given the Spanish-speaking patient
🔹That I am never doing enough for my community + vulnerable patients
🔹Harassment by patients + colleagues
🔹Being overwhelmed by expectations to fix diversity (#MinorityTax)