About

Coalition On Restructuring Education via Health Equity & Antiracism Leading to Human Justice, or CORE HEALTH, is a GW multidisciplinary student research lab that relies on reciprocal university community partnerships by meeting the aims of the Anti Racism Coalition within GW’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS). Student research activists represent diverse health profession disciplines such as public health, medicine, chemistry, bioinformatics and clinical translational research.

Students report the immediate and anticipated long-term impact that being engaged in institution-wide strategic antiracism efforts has on their understanding, sense of agency, and growing commitments to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. This student-led work contributes to dismantling ideologies of white supremacy disguised as evidence-based curriculum and race-neutral program policy. In the first three semesters of the lab, we were able to make considerable impact (see table below):

Each semester, a cohort of student research activists experience: 

• Weekly trauma informed meetings
• Ongoing professional development
• One-on-one mentoring
• Independent projects
• Deliberate reflection

A few of our projects include:

• A department-wide antiracism demonstration mixed-methods participatory action project
• Educational video-based modules on the impact of structural racism on health outcomes piloted among medical students engaged in service-learning at a federally qualified health center
• A health equity knowledge baseline study across health profession training programs
• A decolonizing health-disparity based teaching and research toolkit for faculty and clinical investigators
• A theory-based antiracist organizational change model and assessment to change institutional culture among programs and departments
• An environmental scan of existing DEI and pipeline programs
• An online resource library

Acknowledgements

• Special thanks to our community advisory board of community experts and GW faculty, and GW students who offered their time and insights on curriculum-based educational modules
• Grant funds for the structural racism curriculum were secured from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC); the GW Center for Faculty Excellent Education Research Grant; the GW Honey Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service; and GW Antiracism Coalition.
• Grant funds for the HIV and COVID scoping review and qualitative research is made possible from Gilead Sciences, Inc.