Aletha Maybank, who became the American Medical Association’s first Chief Equity Officer five and a half years ago, is leaving the organization.
Maybank, a widely respected advocate for health care equity, led the organization to reckon with its own racist past. The AMA excluded black physicians from membership for more than a century and paid scant attention to the racist practices of one of its own presidents, J. Marion Sims. In one Report 2021 Maybank oversaw, the AMA admitted to a long litany of disturbing actions, including Sims testing surgical procedures on black women without anesthesia and that the AMA’s policy sought to prohibit “irregular-born pretenders,” as they called Native American physicians, from practicing medicine.
The 177-year-old organization was founded during Maybank’s tenure took responsibility for playing a role in the country’s deep racial health disparities and pledged to help dismantle white supremacy and racism within medicine. For many, such work was considered far too late.
“Dr. Maybank really brought the AMA into the modern era in terms of grappling with its legacy and taking on the need to fix the ways in which organized medicine has failed to care for African Americans in this country ”, says Mary Bassett, director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud. Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.
The departure may come as a surprise to many health care equity advocates, who have praised Maybank’s work and also recognized the difficult and political nature of her position. She said Monday that the decision was her own and came at a time when she hoped to create a new venture — and a brand new way — to work for health care equity and improve medicine outside of a large organization. “Of course it’s bittersweet,” Maybank told STAT of her decision to resign. “I am proud of the work.”
Maybank said she plans to launch a new venture at the intersection of art and medicine, which will focus on the emotional power of stories and storytelling to change people’s attitudes and will, and that the idea for this new path came from the work she did. at the AMA. “That’s one thing I learned,” she said. “The will to do something to change the system comes from a deeper emotional context.”
Maybank’s resignation comes at a time when many in the health care equity field are facing challenges in their work, including the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that colleges and universities cannot use race as a primary factor in admissions, something that could reduce the number of Black people could decrease. medical students over time, and other legal efforts to dismantle and defund programs focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
‘I’m worried. After the murder of George Floyd, we saw a real shift in this country and in particular in organized medicine and public health to confront racism. The response was so quick that it really surprised me,” Bassett said. “I fear whoever takes this on next will face a much less receptive world.”
The AMA said in her statement it would begin a search to find a replacement. Referring to the sometimes difficult situations Maybank has found herself in while confronting racism from within a long politically conservative organization, James Madara, executive vice president and CEO of AMA, in a statement thanked Maybank for taking on difficult work and “for putting up with of sometimes harsh criticism. ”
Maybank’s work to bring about change at the AMA has been praised by many in the health equity field. “That work is difficult to do in a long-standing institution where policy is really ingrained,” says Félix Manuel Chinaa, director of healthcare equity and inclusion strategy at Doximity. “It’s a testament to her to get all these people who have power at a major organization on board with this work.”
Maybank acknowledged that some working in health care equity might feel deflated to see her leave such a powerful position, but said she would continue to work toward equity and “optimal health for all” in her new job and that others would continue her work at the AMA. “That message of perseverance doesn’t change,” she said. Previously, Maybank served as deputy commissioner and founding director of the New York City Health Department’s Center for Health Equity.
She said she believed the AMA remained deeply committed to the anti-racist work she encouraged within the organization and praised its leaders, especially the AMA House of Delegates, for agreeing to create her position in the first place and to support her work supports. “That advocacy often goes unseen,” she said.
In an interview with STAT last year, Maybank discussed her achievements and said she creates hope by reminding people that “we are part of a legacy of people who believe and know that they deserve dignity… that legacy is a beautiful legacy. It is a painful legacy, and an exhausting legacy.”