We Must Do Better
Montefiore/Einstein Department of OBGYN Statement on Anti-Racism
June 5, 2020
We, the undersigned resident, fellow, and faculty physicians in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine — Montefiore Medical Center, strongly condemn the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and all those named and unnamed before them at the hands of police brutality and racial injustice. We are grieved to see this troubling pattern of explicit racist violence occur repeatedly in our country, built upon the framework of pervasive, invasive systemic racism.
We acknowledge healthcare’s role in perpetuating systems of inequity, including racism, as made evident by the devastating burden of COVID-19 on black and brown communities. As OBGYNs, we recognize the ongoing crisis of black maternal and infant mortality as the unjust and fatal consequence of intersecting systems of oppression.
We are proud to live and work in a predominantly Black and Latinx community in the Bronx. Every day we bear witness to the effects of racism (structural, institutional and individual) on the health and well-being of our community. We hear how our patients have to fight for their health and their livelihood. We have dedicated ourselves to providing dignified care that empowers all our patients.
We are committed to:
· Creating a culture and workforce that understands the link between health disparities and structural racism, recognizes the ways in which society and healthcare promotes them, and works proactively to dismantle them
· Implementing structures and practices committed to shared-decision making and patient centered care, giving our communities a voice
· Strengthening community partnerships with our neighbors and the people we care for, to support the fight against racial and economic inequities
· Recognizing and embracing anti-racist, multicultural diversity as an institutional asset and ensuring engagement and inclusion of diverse people of color in decision making roles
We vow to turn this tragic moment into an opportunity to make change.
We recognize that change happens when we collectively transform societal spaces to ones that recognize and respect every individual’s humanity and their right to thrive and live freely.
We need to hold each other accountable and be accountable to the communities we serve by acknowledging and actively addressing inequities across boundaries and commit to rebuilding a more inclusive and just framework.
We must, we can, and we will do better.
In Solidarity-
Ayoka Adams, MD MSPH
Edith Gurewitsch Allen, MD, MBA, MEd Executive Vice Chair, Clinical Affairs
Curtis Appel, MD
Moona Arabkhazaeli, MD
Jessica Maria Atrio, MD MSc
Sima Baalbaki, MD
Asante Badu, MD
Erika Banks MD, Vice Chair for Education & Residency Program Director
Arielle Bayer, MD
Nerys Benfield MD MPH, Senior Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, Director-Division of Family Planning and the Fellowship in Family Planning
Carol A Bernstein, MD. Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Wellbeing
Peter Bernstein, MD, MPH, Maternal Fetal Medicine Division Director
Rupal Bhana, MD
Elise Boos, MD, MSc
Talitha Bruney, MD, Associate Residency Program Director, Medical Director of Comprehensive Family Care Center
Sandolsam Cha, MD
Miriam Champer, MD
Shahrukh Chaudhary, MD
Judi Chervenak MD
Victoria Chiaro, DO MPh
Whitney Clearwater, MD MPH
Lizelle Comfort, MD
Lauren Cosgriff, MD
Antoinette Danvers, MD MSCR
Pe’er Dar, MD Director, Division of Fetal Medicine
Natalie Davis, MD
Shayan Dioun, MD
Siobhan Dolan, MD, MPH
Alexandra Douglas, MD MPH
Georgios Doulaveris MD
Janice Falls, MD
Alex Fife, MD
Monica Foreman, MD
Ann Frisse, MD
Lisa Gabor, MD
Angela Gonzalez, MD
Divya Gowthaman, MD
Gregory M. Gressel MD, MSc- Assistant Professor, Gynecologic Oncology
Elizabeth Gurney, MD MPH
Mary Hardy, MD MPH
Avonelle Henry, MD
Francine Hughes, MD Program Director, Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship Training
Catherine M. Igel, MD
Sara Isani MD
Meaghan Jain MD
Cathy Jarosz, MD
Sangita Jindal, PhD, REI Lab Director
Chavi Karkowsky, MD
Arielle Katcher, MD
Julie Kaplan, MD
Michelle Kappy, MD
Olivia Khouri, MD
Rasha Khoury, MD MPH
Annie Kim, MD
Emily Kintzer, MD
Susan Klugman MD Director — Division of Reproductive and Medical Genetics, Program Director -Medical Genetics
Alexander Kucherov, MD
Yi-Shin Kuo, MD MMM, Division and Fellowship Director, Gynecologic Oncology
Calvin Lambert, MD
Ava Leegant, MD Interim Division & Fellowship Director Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery
Veronica Lerner, MD
Erika Levi MD MPH, Associate Residency Program Director
Mark Levie, MD Associate Chairman, Director of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery
Nanci Levine MD, Associate Director of Weiler Hospital Labor and Delivery and Inpatient Obstetrics
Judith Levy, MD
Harry Lieman, MD Director — Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
Ken Lin, MD PhD
Holly Yettaw Luts, MD
Sharmila Makhija MD MBA, Department Chair
Nicole Massad, MD
Rachel Meislin, MD
Reid Mergler, MD
Ismely Minaya, MD
Clelia Moline, MD
Mzimeli Morris, MD
Celia Muoser, MD MPH
Emma Chew Murphy, MD
Lisa Nathan, MD MPH, Director of Weiler Hospital Labor and Delivery and Inpatient Obstetrics
Daphne Papathomas, MD
Kari Plewniak, MD
Sara Rabin-Havt, MD
Brittany Sanford, MD
Marit Pearlman Shapiro, MD MPH
Susan Pesci, MD MPH
Melissa Peskin-Stolze, MD
Staci E Pollack, MD MS, Director of OBGYN Medical Student Education and Clerkship Director
Sara Rabin-Havt, MD
Leeshun Rivera, PA
Renee Rolston, MD
Jessica Rosenblum, DO MPH
Elise Rosenthal, MD
Had Rotenberg, MD
Katie Ryken MD
Said S. Saab, MD
Deepika Sagaram, MD
Kathryn Saturnino, MD
Morit Segui, MD
Trisha Shah, MD
Manvinder Singh, MD
David Smotkin MD, Ph.D
Corinne Solheid, MD MPH
Shirly Solouki, MD
Bianca M. Stifani, MD
Libby Szeto, MD
Fatima Estrada Trejo, MD
Lauren Turker, MD
Amanda Ulrich, MD
Genevieve Umeh, MD
Anne Van Arsdale, MD
Kavita Vani, MD
Marisa Vega, MD
Diana Wolfe, MD, MPH Associate Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship Director
Alexandra Woodcock, MD
Rodney L. Wright, MD, MSc Director, Obstetrics & Gynecology — Wakefield Campus
Min Wu, MD
Siyu Xiao, MD
Megan Yanik, MD
Stephanie Zuo, MD
