On January 19, Penn Medicine will be hosting its annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Health Equity Symposium celebrating the life and legacy of one of our most celebrated Americans, Dr. Martin Luther King.   As the first President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, rooted in Christian beliefs, and galvanized by the teachings and practice of Mathma Gandhi, Dr. King was one of most visible and impactful leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.  The lessons we can learn from his journey live on in his speeches and writing; it is his crusade for social justice that we celebrate on his actual birthday, January 15, the federal holiday, on January 17 and in our annual Martin Luther King Health Equity Symposium on January 19, which is now endowed so that it will forever be a time of reflection for the Penn Medicine community. 

This is a time for us as a community to consider what we have accomplished thus far on this journey towards social justice, and more specifically health equity.  Action for Cultural Transformation or ACT is our shared framework for striving for a vision that “Penn Medicine is united as an anti-racist, equitable, diverse, and inclusive organization.”  This vision is strengthened by the addition of new and existing initiatives launched within our community.  With an eye on the core values of ACT, specifically Respect, Cultural Humility, Empathy, Equity, and Accountability, the launch of Project Vital Advantage will inform our efforts to advance equitable hiring and advancement.  Embracing the principles of becoming a High Reliability Organization addresses the value of accountability, ensuring that deeply engrained in our psyche is the push for find new solutions when initial attempts may fail, and everyone shares in the responsibility of moving forward.  This feature of change reminds us of quote from MLK, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle.” We can recognize the struggle when there are several ways that Penn Medicine strives to achieve its goals, opening multiple channels to be involved.  Consider the RISE Code of Conduct, the Penn Medicine Experience Standards, and the Blueprint for Health Equity and Inclusion, all of which intersect with the core values of ACT.  Thus, it is these core values that should keep us united in our efforts. 

In Dr. Martin Luther King’s sermon entitled Where Do We Go from Here? “We must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.”  A shared commitment to our core values expressed in ACT, Respect, Cultural Humility, Empathy, Equity, and Accountability can lead us to a future of inclusivity, only if we come together and collectively work towards change.  We know that we have the fortitude, considering that 96% of us educated ourselves in unconscious bias and we completed 76% of our initial action items our first year.  Continue to be involved, get involved, and let us work towards an inclusive culture and health equity together.  This recalls one last quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Join us on Wednesday at Noon, as we learn from one of own graduates, Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble, reflect as we listen to music of our Jack Drummond, Jennifer Jolivert (MS3) and Kalil Shaw (MS1), and learn which unit has won the Champion for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity award for 2022.  Comments and questions are always welcome at our website, www.med.upenn.edu/inclusion-and-diversity.