We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.
As part of their Know the Land Territories Campaign, the Laurier Students’ Public Interest Research Group (LSPIRG) has some recommendations for helping us go beyond acknowledgement. One of their key recommendations is to learn, which I think is why we are all here today.
- The Laurier group recommends that we learn about oppression and privilege. About the history of colonization. About Indigenous peoples and cultures. About the land we live on. The group encourages us to listen and reminds us that there are many books, blogs, documentaries, Independent media sites, plays, and songs that Indigenous people have written and performed that are great places to start learning.
- Though today’s focus is centred around historical, current, and future impacts of physiology research on black health, we are addressing our historical and on-going participation in colonialism, oppression, and privilege, and in doing so, we are doing good for all groups that suffer under the legacy of colonialism. Leaning into the learning isn’t easy – and may at times be uncomfortable and even painful – but it is good and right to do this, and when you do good for one part of a whole, the whole entity (whole organism, whole community or society)—all of us—will benefit.
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Land Acknowledgement, Paula Smellie |
3:30PM |
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Opening remarks, Dr. Scott Heximer |
3:35PM |
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Dr. Terence Keel speaks to the past |
3:40PM |
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Dr. Kacie Deters speaks to the present |
3:55PM |
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Dr. Angeline Dukes speaks to the present |
4:10PM |
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Break |
4:25PM |
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Keynote introduction, Everton Smith |
4:35PM |
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Dr. AJ Hinton speaks to building the future |
4:40PM |
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Panel discussion |
5:10PM |
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Closing remarks |
5:40PM |
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Reception (Macleod Auditorium lobby) |
5:45PM |
DR. KACIE DETERS | UCLA
Dr. Kacie Deters is an Assistant Professor in UCLA's department of Integrative Biology & Physiology. She earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of Alabama, Birmingham. She had little research experience and was curious if this was the path she wanted to pursue. After a year of figuring out what would make her happy, she ultimately completed her M.S. in Biology from CSU Dominguez Hills in 2012. Science turned into a passion Kacie wanted to explore more. In 2017, she earned her Ph.D. in Medical Neuroscience at the Indiana University School of Medicine focusing on genetic and imaging characteristics of tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease. Kacie then completed her first postdoc in 2021 at Stanford University with Dr. Elizabeth Mormino where she first began to explore ethnic and racial disparities existed in AD biomarkers. COVID hit, and Kacie decided to take a second postdoc, which she completed in 2022 at the University of California, San Diego in the Department of Neurosciences with Dr. Sarah Banks. While at UCSD, Kacie expanded her training to understand racial bias that exists in neuropsychological assessments. While at UCLA, Kacie’s lab will focus is on ethnic and racial disparities in predictors (genetic; neuroimaging; neuropsychological assessments; social/environmental factors) for cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in older adults, primarily from the Black community.
See the Further Reading section below to read some of Dr. Deters' work.
DR. ANGELINE DUKES | UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Angeline Dukes is an Assistant Professor in the University of Minnesota's Department of Neuroscience. She is a first-generation college graduate who earned her bachelors degree from the Historically Black College/University, Fisk University. She then earned her masters and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Irvine. She is also the Founder and current President of Black In Neuro, an international organization dedicated to supporting Black scholars in neuroscience-related fields worldwide. As an assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience, Dr. Dukes splits her time between teaching undergraduate neuroscience courses and leading diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. She aims to foster a community at UMN that welcomes, supports, and empowers all students, but especially those with historically marginalized identities, both in and out of the classroom.
See the Further Reading section below to read some of Dr. Dukes' work.
DR. TERENCE KEEL | UCLA
Terence Keel is a Professor with a split appointment in the Department of African American Studies, and the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics. He has written extensively about race, religion, law, medicine and the life sciences. His widely acclaimed first book, Divine Variations (Stanford University Press, 2018), winner of the Iris Book Award, details how religion helped produce scientific racism. He is the co-editor of Critical Approaches to Science and Religion (Columbia University Press, 2023). In 2020 Keel became the Founding Director of the BioCritical Studies Lab—an interdisciplinary space that combines life science research, the best of data science, and the wisdom of the humanities to explain how discrimination, inequality, and resilience are embodied in vulnerable communities and the societies we design. He also serves as the Advisor for Structural Competency and Innovation for the UCLA Simulation Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine.
See the Further Reading section below to read some of Dr. Keel's work.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: DR. ANTENTOR HINTON, JR. | VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Dr. Antentor Hinton, Jr. is a tenure-track Assistant Professor within Vanderbilt University’s Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics located within the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. In addition to being a member of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center, he is also an Ernest E. Just Early Career Investigator. Dedicated to unraveling the intricate molecular mechanisms governing insulin-mediated cristae dynamics, Dr. Hinton's research endeavors are generously funded by the United Negro College Fund/Bristol Myers Squibb, Burroughs Wellcome Fund through Career Awards at the Scientific Interface (CASI), and an NIH SRP, a small project awards for pilot research, from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Pride to Increase Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research. Dr. Hinton recently received the esteemed Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Science Diversity Leadership Award for his innovative research on mitochondrial networks in human disease, as well as an NIH/NIDDK Basic Science Research Award.
Dr. Hinton is equally dedicated to mentoring and promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within the scientific community. In addition to his scientific papers, he has published 11 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education papers, 14 mentoring papers, and 20 career development, diversity, leadership, and enrichment papers. He has received a multitude of awards for his leadership in these arenas, including the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) IINSPIRE with the Excellence in Mentoring Award, the American Society of Cell Biology with the Mentoring Keynote Award, Vanderbuilt University’s Black Cultural Center’s UnSung Hero Award, United Negro College Fund (UNCF), and the Ernest E. Just Life Science Society to Black in Cell Molecular and Developmental Biology for outstanding leadership in the life sciences, and dozens of others. He serves on the Endocrine Society’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee and actively participates in the Partnering to Advance Imaging Research for Underrepresented Minority Scientists Program (PAIR-UP). Dr. Hinton has also been recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the 100 Black Culture Makers and Thought Leaders on the blacklist100.
See the Further Reading section below to read some of Dr. Hinton's work.
Let's keep learning!
This symposium was initially inspired by two amazing texts: a podcast series produced by the Science History Institute and the 2022 double issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal focused on the health of Black people. You can also find both among the links to your right or below. We have also curated some articles and talks by both today's speakers and others. This is, of course, a small sample of what is available, but we hope you find these a helpful starting point for further reflection, exploration, and celebration.
RESOURCES
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Canadian Medical Association Journal double issue on Black health
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It’s Right In Front of You: Racism, medicine & the body’s largest organ by Cicely Belle Blain, Ripple of Change
- Amyloid PET Imaging in Self-Identified Non-Hispanic Black Participants of the Anti-Amyloid in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease (A4) Study by Kacie Deters, Neurology
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Skin colour affects the accuracy of medical oxygen sensors Matthew D. Keller, Brandon Harrison-Smith et al, Nature
- Social Justice Requires Biocritical Inquiry by Terence Keel, Kalfou
- Divine Variations: How Christian Thought Became Racial Science by Terence Keel, Stanford University Press
- There is no ‘African American Physiology’: the fallacy of racial essentialism Jennifer Tsai et al, Journal of Internal Medicine
- A year in review: Are diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives fixing systemic barriers? by Angeline Dukes et al, Neuron
- Patching the leaks: Revitalizing and Reimagining the STEM Pipeline by AJ Hinton et al, Cell
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Laboratory: Strategies to Enhance Inclusive Laboratory Culture by AJ Hinton et al, Molecular Cell
- Collective action is needed to build a more just science system by Aisling Rayne et al, Nature Human Behaviour
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Innate: How Science Invented the Myth of Race series of podcasts from the Science History Institute, featuring Dr. Terence Keel in one of the episodes
➡️ An incredible resource for understanding the historical context of race and science and its lasting implications. This series inspired this symposium.
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Beyond diversity: building a culture of inclusion in science talk by Dr. Tracy Johnson
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Bridging the racial divide in society and academia talk by Dr. Manu Platt, presented by Medicine By Design’s Healthy & Inclusive Labs initiative
Office of Access & Outreach (OAO)
- The OAO runs many excellent programs dedicated to diversifying the STEM pipeline at Temerty and beyond, including the Research Application Support Initiative (RASI) for students belonging to their Community of Support.
- PI's who wish to participate in RASI can also take part in the Mentor 2 Mentor Capacity Building Initiative.
- Learners and others who wish to volunteer for OAO programming can sign up here.
Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the Faculty of Medicine
Special thanks to the Department of Physiology's EDI Committee who conceptualized this symposium, and the Physiology & Black Health Symposium Working Group for their hard work breaking ground on what we hope is the first of many such events. This year's Working Group members are:
- Tara MacDonald, a brand new faculty member who jumped in with both feet.
- Paula Smellie, our EDI Co-lead and dedicated business manager of over fifteen years; she has devoted countless hours to EDI initiatives for most of those years as well.
- Everton Smith, MHSc in Medical Physiology candidate, who took time out of his busy placement-hunting schedule to provide the much-needed perspective of a Black physiology student.
- Julia Tausch, EDI Co-lead and MHSc program coordinator, who wrote this program and so feels weird saying something nice. She really hopes she ordered the right amount of food!
- Prashanth Velayudhan, PhD candidate, who should give a master class in providing constructive feedback.
Special thanks, too, to our Department Chair, Dr. Scott Heximer, for his unbridled support of this event and all continuing efforts to diversify our department and create a more inclusive culture.