Challenging Norms
Uplifting Anti-Racist Work to Transform
the Landscape of Medical Education
3Rd Annual Conference
Planning is underway for the third annual Challenging Norms: Uplifting Anti-Racist Work to Transform the Landscape of Health Sciences Education conference!
Challenging Norms is a unique opportunity to present, discuss, and explore strategies for addressing all forms of oppression as a means of transforming four key areas of medical education: pre-medical preparation, undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, and the intersection between medical education and the community.
What’s new in 2025:
This year, we are partnering with the NYC Department of Health and expanding our focus to include all health sciences education, including nursing, social work, pharmacy, PT/OT, MD programs and more.
In addition to the virtual conference keynotes, panels, poster presentations, workshops, fireside chats and personal narratives, we are considering adding an in-person component and would love to hear from you!
Help shape our 2025 conference here.
RFP’s for the 2025 Challenging Norms Conference will open in March. Check back here for more conference details and submission guidelines.
Conference Details
When: October 2025
Where: Virtual & In-Person
Who: Pre-medical students, medical students, graduate students, scholars, post-doctoral fellows, housestaff, faculty, staff, deans, directors, and community members…anyone at the interface of efforts to address bias and oppression in health sciences education!
Cost of attendance: Free!
Registration: Required (TBD)
Contact Us
Email EquityandJustice@mssm.edu with any questions.
About Us: The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is a leader in anti-oppression, having established the Racism and Bias Initiative in 2015 as well as the Center for Anti-Racism in Practice in 2021. Through this work, we developed a change-management strategy to fundamentally change and restructure the way all forms of oppression and bias are addressed in our medical education program. In 2021, with a grant from Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, we established the Anti-Racist Transformation in Medical Education (ART in Med Ed) initiative, a coalition with 11 other North American medical institutions. In October, 2023 we established the Institute for Equity and Justice in Health Sciences Education, bringing RBI, CAP, and ART in Med Ed under one roof and allowing us to transform the landscape of medicine through initiatives that stop the perpetuation of all forms of bias in medical education.