A Framework for Antiracist Curriculum Changes in Nephrology Education

Abstract

Addressing persistent racial health disparities in cases of kidney disease will first require significant investment in examining how structural racism has influenced our clinical practice and medical education. Improving how we understand and articulate race is critical for achieving this goal. This work begins with ensuring that race's mention within nephrology literature and curricular materials for medical trainees is thoroughly rooted in evidence-based rationale—not to serve as a proxy for polygenic contributions, social determinants of health, or systemic health care barriers. While many institutions are increasingly recognizing the importance of instituting such changes on behalf of the systematically marginalized patient populations who are most affected by these disparities, there is a paucity of guidance on how to critically appraise and revise decades of pathophysiological and epidemiological findings through an antiracist lens. In this article, we propose an inquiry-based framework with case-study examples to help readers recognize improper use of race within nephrology, assess personal and institutional readiness to introduce changes to said content, and generate materials that center evidence-based findings and reject harmful misinterpretations of race.