Aletha Maybank, who served as the American Medical Association’s first gender equality officer for the past five and a half years, is leaving the organization.
Maybank, a well-respected advocate for health equity, made the organization think about its past of racism. The AMA excluded Black physicians from membership for over a century and recognized the racist practices of one of its presidents, J. Marion Sims. In a 2021 report that Maybank oversaw, the AMA acknowledged a long list of troubling practices, including that Sims performed surgical experiments on black women without anesthesia and that policies The AMA wanted to ban “unnaturally born pretenders,” as they called Native American doctors. , from doctors.
During Maybank’s career, the organization is 177 years old has taken responsibility for contributing to the deep racial divide in society and vowed to help end white supremacy and racism in medicine. For many, such work was considered long out of date.
“Dr. Maybank has really brought the AMA into modern times in terms of fighting against its legacy and taking on the need to correct the ways in which organized medicine has failed to care for African Americans in this country,” said Mary Bassett, director of François-Xavier Bagnoud, Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.
This departure may surprise many health equity advocates who praise Maybank’s work and appreciate the difficult and political nature of his position. He said Monday the decision was his and it came at a time when he was hoping to create a new business — and a new way — to work on health equity and improve medicine outside of the organization. he is great. “It’s really exciting,” Maybank told STAT of his decision to step down. “I am proud of this work.”
Maybank said he plans to start a new project at the intersection of art and medicine that will focus on the emotional power of storytelling and storytelling to change people’s attitudes and will, and that the idea for this new path was born from the work which you did. to AMA. He said: “That’s another thing I learned. “The desire to do something to change the system comes from a deep emotional level.”
Maybank’s layoff comes at a time when many in the health equity field are facing challenges in their work, including the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that colleges and universities can they will use race as the main factor for admission, which can reduce the number of black people. medical students over time, and other legal attempts to dismantle and restore programs that focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“I’m worried. After the murder of George Floyd, we have seen a real sea change in this country and organized medicine and public health especially in the face of racism. The changes have been so quick that it has really surprised me,” said Bassett. “I’m worried that whoever takes this up next will face a world that is not so receptive.”
The AMA said in a statement it would launch a search for a replacement. Commenting on the difficult situation Maybank found itself in while facing racism from a long political establishment, James Madera, vice president and CEO of the AMA, thanked Maybank for take hard work and “tolerate occasional criticism.”
Maybank’s work to create change in the AMA has been praised by many in the field of health equity. “That work is difficult to do in a long-term institution where policies really exist,” said Félix Manuel Chinaa, director of health equity and inclusion strategy at Doximity. “To get all these powerful people in a major organization to join this project is a testament to him.”
Maybank acknowledged that some who work on health equity may be disappointed to see him leave such a powerful position, but said he will continue to work on equity and “health for all” at work. his new and that others will continue his work in the AMA. He said: “That message of persistence does not change. Previously, Maybank was the deputy commissioner and founding director of the Center for Health Equity at the New York City Department of Health.
He said he believes that the AMA is always serious about the anti-racism work that he has forced within the organization and praised its leaders, especially the AMA House of Delegates , by agreeing to establish his position first and support his work. “Usually that advocacy is invisible,” he said.
In an interview with STAT last year, Maybank spoke about his success and said that another way he gives hope is by reminding people that “we are part of the legacy of people who believe and know that they deserve it is dignity … that the inheritance is a good inheritance. It is a painful inheritance, and it is a tiring inheritance.”
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