• Martha L Elks, Khadeja Johnson, and Ngozi F Anachebe.
• M.L. Elks is senior associate dean, Educational Affairs, professor of medical education, and professor of medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia. K. Johnson is associate professor of medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia. N.F. Anachebe is associate dean, Admissions and Student Affairs, and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
• Acad Med. 2020 Dec 1; 95 (12S Addressing Harmful Bias and Eliminating Discrimination in Health Professions Learning Environments): S88-S92.

AbstractBias can impact all aspects of human interactions and have major impacts on the education and evaluation of health care professionals. Health care and health professions education, being very dependent on interpersonal interactions and learning as well as on the assessment of interpersonal behaviors and skills, are particularly susceptible to the positive and negative effects of bias. Even trained and experienced evaluators can be affected by biases based on appearance, attractiveness, charm, accent, speech impediment, and other factors that should not play a role in the assessment of a skill. At the Morehouse School of Medicine, elements in the curriculum and the milieu help decrease the burden of bias experienced by learners. In addition, many of the learners develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes that appear to assist them with navigating bias in other learning or practice environments. In this case study, the authors reflect on these elements and how they can be replicated in other settings. According to the authors, modifying the learning environment to enhance and sustain relationships is key in addressing toxic bias.

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