One Year Ago on May 25: Reflections on This Moment We Share

By Eve Higginbotham SM, MD, ML

One year ago today, on a street in Minneapolis, a man lost his life.  George Floyd parked outside a convenience store in his neighborhood and was accused of passing a counterfeit bill.  A call to the local police quickly escalated to an attempt to place Mr. Floyd in a police vehicle, then a pinning of his body on the ground, and a knee on his neck for more than 9 minutes.   The world soon saw what bystanders witnessed, captured on video by a teenager.  If we had not seen the video, there would be other explanations of this moment.  That video, forever connected us as witnesses to the translation of that moment to a movement. 

In the past year, we…

How Can We Go Forward as a Community and as a Society?

By Eve Higginbotham SM, MD, ML

Yesterday at 4PM, a young man lost his life in West Philadelphia.  According to reports, he had a history of mental illness and was brandishing a knife, as he walked towards police.  As I view the video which documented this occurrence, I see a young man, younger than my nephew, who is indeed, walking towards police.  He was not running towards the officers but was simply walking.  Why is it that the initial response to such a circumstance is to release a flurry of bullets?  Why is it that the deadliest display of force is the first response?  Why isn’t it the last strategy? Why not use a Taser first rather than consider this method as an afterthought?  It…

All Lives Matter in Academic Medicine, Article By: Eve Higginbotham SM, MD, Diana Harris, MBe, PhD and Katherine Stamper, MBA

By Eve J. Higginbotham, SM, MD

While the focus recently has been on the twitter phrase, “black lives matter,” as a physician it is important to underscore the premise that all lives matter. Understandably, the amplitude of voices has increased over the past several months following the tragic deaths of unarmed black men – staunch reminders that implicit bias has had a role in shaping our country, our politics, and our hearts since the birth of our nation.

Academic medicine is certainly not exempt from such bias, with the recent perspective in the NEJM, Bias, Black Lives, and Academic Medicine, leaving the reader with an underlying sense of helplessness, considering the lack of diversity highlighted in the article. 

In the article, the authors describe the…