Timeline & Progress
Year 1 (2021-2022)
- Build the infrastructure to create positive change on social justice within the curriculum.
- Build infrastructure, partnerships, vision, best practices.
- Complete curricular needs assessments
- Establish and Act on Curricular Harm Reduction Priorities
- Develop and lead a coalition to adapt the Health and Society (H&S) course for March 2022
- Build workstreams focusing on: Content/process; Assessment; Communication; Faculty Development and Consultation; Technology; Student Support; Evaluation/Continuous Quality Improvement
- Eight new Curricular Component Liaisons (CCLs) will build relationships and structures to partner effectively with curricular leaders across the curriculum to:
- Review/adapt current curricular components with an anti-oppressive lens
- Begin integrating new content and approaches longitudinally into the curriculum
- Launch AOCI Task Forces on Race/Ethnicity in clinical cases, and Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in clinical cases
- Form AOCI-Student Collaborative and develop processes for student voices and input into the AOCI's efforts
- Develop blueprint for patient- and community-centered narratives
- Read more about the AOCI’s first year of progress
Year 2 (2022-2023)
- Continue to review and adapt curricular content with an anti-oppressive lens
- Begin to integrate new anti-oppressive content and teaching approaches into the curriculum
- Begin to develop novel assessment approaches to anti-oppression content
- Continue to build and work with a coalition to redesign Health and the Individual (H&I) / Health and Society (H&S) courses
- Launch AOC Task Forces on other key topic areas (e.g., disability/strategies to work against ableism)
- Obtain feedback on core AOC-linked faculty competencies
- Expand faculty development and faculty consultation strategies
- Pilot para-curricular support mechanisms for students
- Establish blueprint for community involvement in the curriculum and pilot approaches
- Read more about the AOCI's second year of progress.
Year 3 (2023-2024)
- Continue to review and adapt curricular content with an anti-oppressive lens
- Continue to integrate new anti-oppressive content and teaching approaches into the curriculum
- Pilot novel assessment approaches to anti-oppression content
- Support continued transformation of approach to Health and the Individual (H&I) / Health and Society (H&S) Blocks into the Justice and Advocacy in Medicine (JAM) Blocks
- Continue to expand faculty consultation and coaching strategies
- Collaborate with CFE on a campaign for faculty development tied to core AOC-linked faculty competencies
- Integrate para-curricular support mechanisms for students
- Continue to plan for infrastructure for community involvement in the curriculum
Phase 1.0: Building Foundations: 2021-2024
In addition to assembling and launching a team with diverse perspectives and backgrounds, visioning, in consultation with internal and external experts, gathering input, reviewing and evaluating available instructional resources, reviewing and adapting curricular content with an anti-oppressive lens are all underway.
While the initial phase of the AOCI was three years, like all social justice work, developing and sustaining movement towards an anti-oppressive curriculum, as well as towards anti-oppressive processes and policies will require a commitment to ongoing, continuous effort across the School of Medicine. With this need for longitudinal efforts in mind, with the support of the School of Medicine leadership, our AOCI team has now begun the second phase of our collaborative efforts to help UCSF continue to move toward more fully embodying the anti-racism, anti-oppressive values we aspire to.
Setting the Vision
In the first phase of the AOCI, our team worked to set a vision and worked on concrete objectives. To identify meaningful goals, the AOCI team leveraged the experience of health and healthcare equity experts. In the first year of the AOCI, our team was fortunate to consult with UCSF Presidential Chair Award Recipient Dr. Camara Jones, helping us to outline the vision and goals for the AOCI. As we move into the second phase of our work, we will continue to seek input from a broad range of partners including students, alumni, faculty, staff, patients, and community members.
Gathering Input
In December 2021, an AOCI-Student Collaborative was launched with 19 students. By 2024, the Collaborative had grown to include 35 students recruited from among all current medical students. The members of the Student Collaborative provide feedback on both high-level strategy and detailed aspects of the AOCI’s curricular efforts. A representative from the Student Collaborative also serves as a standing member of the Student Supergroup to share updates and gather feedback from leaders of medical student groups on campus. The Student Collaborative is facilitated by our AOCI Student Fellows, currently Jessa Culver, Class of 2026, with support from Denise Connor, MD.
Reviewing and Adapting Curricular Content
- Curriculum Needs Assessments
In the first phase of the AOCI, working in partnership with curricular leaders, each of the AOCI Liaisons completed an initial needs assessment with the curricular elements they are partnered with. The Liaisons then engaged in a ‘harm reduction’ review of curricular content, in partnership with curricular leaders, and worked on beginning to adapt curricular sessions and to set priorities for future curricular transformation.
- Topic-Based Task Forces
In the first phase of the AOCI, three topic-based Task Forces made up of faculty, students, staff, and community consultants completed their work, focused on Race & Ethnicity, Sex/ Gender/ Sexuality (SGS), and Disability and Working Against Ableism. The Race and Ethnicity & Sex, Gender & Sexuality (SGS) Task Force 1.0 Draft Recommendations were shared with internal faculty, staff, and students in May 2023.
The Disability and Working Against Ableism Task Force Executive Summary was shared in 2024, with 1.0 Draft Recommendations to be shared with internal faculty, staff, and students in winter 2024.
In the next phase of the AOCI, a Weight Bias Task Force will be launched, with an anticipated launch in winter 2025.
- Assessing Image and Video Assets
- Reviewing Video Content
The Technology Enhanced Education (TEE) and AOCI teams have initiated a process for reviewing all video content used throughout the Bridges Curriculum with an anti-oppressive lens. The video review process involves:
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Reviewing each video and relevant materials in partnership with curricular leaders.
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Coordinating with the AOCI team and curricular partners to remove and re-create video content to avoid harmful bias, stereotypes, and exclusionary language.
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Working as necessary with curricular leaders to develop new or revised curricular content that reflects an anti-oppressive approach.
As of September 2023, the majority of courses in Foundations 1 of the Bridges Curriculum have completed the longitudinal review of all UCSF-created video content with an anti-oppressive lens. Flagged videos are being re-created in partnership with faculty leaders across the curriculum to incorporate anti-oppressive approaches.
Every video lecture in F1 includes a notification informing students about the AOCI video review process, describing where each video stands in that process, and inviting student feedback. All F1 UCSF-created video content is expected to be fully updated by July 2025. At that time, review process notifications will not be needed, though ongoing student feedback will always be invited.
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- The Inclusive Skin Color Project
The Inclusive Skin Color Project is a collaborative effort between the School of Medicine's Anti-Oppression Curriculum (AOC) Initiative, the UCSF Library, and the Department of Dermatology to improve the discoverability of resources that represent the full spectrum of skin color. Providing plentiful examples of conditions across the full range of skin tones improves medical students', trainees', and physicians' abilities to accurately identify clinical signs and, consequently, provide excellent patient care.
- Reviewing Video Content
- Health and Society Course Revision—Now Called Justice and Advocacy in Medicine (JAM)
In March 2022, the Health and Society block was adapted with a goal of minimizing the risk of curricular harm and preserving key learning. The AOCI team reviewed each session and made recommendations about the content and pedagogy. Internal and external consultants with expertise in anti-racism, along with student partners from the AOCI-Student collaborative, developed recommendations for session adaptations and shared these with session developers. Given the short timeline, some sessions were placed on hold to allow more time for adaptation. Consultants also developed and led new lectures and panels during the H&S block and offered office hours for student debriefs along with members of the AOCI. The Student Support Team also offered space for students to reflect and debrief.
Moving Forward: Justice and Advocacy in Medicine (JAM)
The JAM team continues to iterate and evolve the Block’s curriculum, teaching, and assessment approaches, using recommendations from an AOCI-led Visioning Working Group (which shared recommendations with the Deans in fall 2023), the Longitudinal Advisory Group for JAM and ongoing student and faculty input, to chart its course.
5. AOCI Curricular Review Tool and Consultations
The AOCI team has developed a Curricular Review Tool to guide UCSF faculty in how to begin to integrate anti-oppressive practices in curricular content and approaches in the Bridges curriculum. The AOCI Curricular Review Tool is designed to raise questions that warrant in-depth review and discussion during the session adaptation and development phase; it aims to provide guidance on anti-oppressive (AO) considerations and to create an opportunity for faculty to share recommendations and identify decisions that need to be discussed and made collaboratively. The AOCI team reviews and updates this tool regularly.
If, after using the AOCI Curricular Review Tool, faculty adapting or designing curricula for the Bridges curriculum need additional support, faculty members are encouraged to reach out to the AOCI team at [email protected] for consultation.
Faculty Development
The AOCI team is continuously developing and curating resources that inform and support faculty as they strive to create more welcoming learning environments and to advance students’ learning around health equity. For more information about AOCI tools, please review the AOCI Resources and Tools page.
A curated resource list was developed to help all clinical faculty members increase their skills in creating equitable, welcoming, and actively anti-oppressive learning environments. The AOCI Resources for the Clinical Learning Environment were shared with clinical faculty in February 2022 in coordination with the start of a new group of students joining Foundations 2. A UCSF team is developing a set of Foundational, Individual and Institutional Practices for Anti-Oppressive Education in the Health Professions to help guide educators and institutions in charting a way forward towards anti-oppressive education. Faculty members interested in exploring the fundamentals of Anti-oppressive and Anti-racist Education are encouraged to visit the Center for Faculty Educators (CFE) for additional resources.
For faculty looking for an introduction to core topics relevant to creating anti-oppressive and welcoming learning environments, the CFE3’s (3-minute videos) are a great starting point.
Student Support
Since January 2023, under the guidance of Dr. Denise Davis, the UCSF School of Medicine has offered ongoing longitudinal mentoring groups tailored to affirm and in support of medical students with a focus on the experiences of those underrepresented in medicine. All students are welcome to participate. For more information, see the Diversity, Equity, Belonging, and Anti-Oppression Programs webpage.
Throughout the AOCI, Denise Davis will continue to offer student support and group mentoring that honor medical students as holistic individuals and developing professionals.
Quarterly Anti-Oppression Updates Newsletter
Each quarter, we send an Anti-Oppression Updates newsletter to current UCSF medical students sharing our collective progress on the efforts of the Anti-Oppression Curriculum Initiative (AOCI) and the School of Medicine's overarching anti-oppression work. Are you a UCSF community member interested in reviewing archives of our quarterly Anti-Oppression Updates newsletter, please contact [email protected].
