Equity in Global Emergency Medicine Committee

Co-Chairs: Nikkole Turgeon and Catalina González Marqués

The Equity in Global Emergency Medicine Committee, established in 2020, aims to improve the recognition and understanding of pervasive inequities and colonial legacies within Global Emergency Medicine (GEM). Our mission is to create impactful and sustainable changes at the individual, institutional, domestic, and international levels. By disrupting inequities and counterproductive power dynamics, we strive to advance global health equity and foster a more just and equitable GEM field. As a GEM group based in a high-income country, it is crucial for us to examine our role and influence in global health critically. We acknowledge how our practices and policies can perpetuate disparities and aim to work towards rectifying these inequities. Central to our mission is the development of equal partnerships with international members. Through a collaborative approach, we aim to support the decolonization of Global Emergency Medicine, ensuring that all members, regardless of their country of origin, are empowered and their voices are heard.

Since its formation, the group has grown to more than 100 members representing five continents and serves as an inclusive space for all those interested in improving equity in the global health and emergency medicine fields. We welcome members working in emergency medicine in any country, of any level or role (students, residents, fellows, faculty, physicians, nurses, medical officers, etc.) from academic and non-academic institutions to get involved.

The working group meets monthly on Zoom to work on a wide range of ongoing projects. If you would like to join the Equity in Global Emergency Medicine Committee, have questions, or would like to share news/events of interest to the group, email Nikkole Turgeon.

Resources and Educational Materials by Our Working Group

Publications:

• A Toolkit for Decolonizing Global Emergency Medicine Education. InFrontiers in Education (Vol. 8, p. 1214904). Frontiers.
  • Authors: Dozois A, Gonzalez Marques C, Thilakasiri K, Adebisi A, Leanza J, Rybarczyk M, Depp T, Wieland T, Karim N, Muchatuta M, Ali F, Amer A, Garbern SC, Patel S. 
  • https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2023.1214904/full
• Authorship representation in global emergency medicine: a bibliometric analysis from 2016 to 2020. BMJ Global Health. 2022 Jun 1;7(6):e009538.
  • Authors: Garbern SC, Hyuha G, Marqués CG, Baig N, Chan JL, Dutta S, Gulamhussein MA, Terán GP, Manji HK, Mdundo WK, Moresky RT. et al.
  • https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/6/e009538.abstract
• Rethinking Global Health: Actions for a Decolonized Future of Global Emergency Medicine. SAEM Pulse July-August 2021.
  • Authors: Monalisa Muchatuta, MD, MS; Sindhya Rajeev, MD, MPH; Shama Patel, MD, MPH; Sanjukta Dutta, MBBS, PGFEM, MEM, MBA; Stephanie C. Garbern, MD, MPH, DTMH; and Catalina González Marqués, MD, MPH
  • https://issuu.com/saemonline/docs/saem_pulse_july-aug_2021/26

SAEM Annual Meeting Didactics:

• SAEM22: Creating an Action List to Decolonize Global Emergency Medicine Education

Video: Perspectives on Decolonizing Global Emergency Medicine

• Decolonizing Global Health for The Next Generation: Perspectives of Trainees from Around the World (GEMA)
• Hear about what decolonizing global health means to trainees from around the globe and how they envision the path forward.

• Producers:
  • Nikkole Turgeon, MD, Boston Medical Center 
  • Oluwarotimi Vaughan-Ogunlusi, MB, BCh, BAO, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
  • Fahad Ali, MD, Brown University 

Reading List and External Resources:

• CUGH 2022 Satellite: A Decolonized Lens through a Novel Anti-Racism Curriculum for Global Health

• SAEM21: Recognizing Our Past: Building an Anti-Colonial Agenda for Global Emergency Medicine