P3C183: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Child Health Anti-racism and Equity (CHANGE) Grant

Background: Ethnic/racial underrepresentation has tainted American medicine to devastating effect. In 1997, Black students comprised 7.5% of US medical school matriculants. The Institute of Medicine published its Unequal Treatment report in 2003, noting that care quality could be: improved substantially by increasing the proportion of underrepresented US racial and ethnic minorities among health professionals. Two decades later, 8.1% of US medical school matriculants are Black and African-Americans succumb to excess death at a rate equivalent to a Boeing 747 full of AA falling out of the sky every day.

Methods: The AAP SOPT CHANGE Grant was designed to empower early-career physicians and medical trainees underrepresented in medicine (URIM) to change the world they see. CHANGE was created analogous to a uniquely dignifying model of academic support introduced by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute with a gross modus operandi of ‘investing in people, not projects.’ The objectives of CHANGE were to resource the efforts of URIM to reduce health disparities and improve diversity in medicine. CHANGE was proposed to and funded by the AAP in Autumn of 2021.

Results: The CHANGE Pilot was conducted from Nov 2021 – 2022. CHANGE received 83 project proposals (63.9%URIM) reviewed comprehensively by the CHANGE Award Committee. Twelve initiatives (91.7%URIM) at academic institutions across the US were financed with > $30,000 disbursed. CHANGE projects were grossly, thematically categorized as follows: Improving Health Equity through Direct Community Intervention, Clarifying Disparities in Health and Outcome, and Advancing Diversity within Medicine. Investment was made to start URIM pipeline programs dedicated to Diversifying the Next Generation of Pediatricians, and to fund investigations into Health Disparities and Outcomes in Congenital Cardiac Surgery that were presented at the American Heart Association conference in November 2022. Data is being collected for presentation with primary outcomes of CHANGE awardee experience, CHANGE project impacts, and outcomes.

Conclusion: Preliminary CHANGE pilot data support the capability of funding initiatives to recruit, identify, and power impactful URIM efforts to mitigate health disparity and improve diversity in medicine.