RSNA apologizes for organization’s contributions to structural racism in radiology
The RSNA Board of Directors issued a statement Thursday, apologizing for the influential imaging group’s contributions to structural racism in the specialty.
Published across the Radiological Society of North America’s collection of scientific journals, the announcement came in response to a scathing history account published in its own Radiographics in January. The piece connected the specialty’s “disturbing past” to today’s low representation of Black doctors in radiology, along with persisting healthcare disparities in the African-American community.
“As leaders of a professional medical society that strives for inclusion, equity and diversity, we read this historical account with sadness and remorse,” Curtis P. Langlotz, MD, PhD, chair of the RSNA board, and his colleagues wrote March 2. “We applaud the authors’ important work gathering the facts and telling the unsettling story of our past. The events presented in the article likely do not represent a full accounting of RSNA’s harmful actions, but these examples are representative of actions and a time when our organization failed.”
The society said it is committing to take action and ensure a commitment to “listening and learning” following the publication. Its response will include ensuring that everything the organization does is free from discriminatory practices and unconscious biases, along with prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion throughout its work.
“We write this statement to acknowledge our historical contribution to structural racism in radiology and to apologize for RSNA’s actions that perpetuated systemic racism, both through omission and commission,” Langlotz et al. wrote. “We also deeply regret RSNA’s past policies and practices that have contributed to the healthcare disparities and inequities we see today. We recognize the profound and lasting impact these failures have had on communities of color and Black radiologists, as well as on the field of radiology.”
Read the full statement from RSNA below.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.