Statement of Support for Black Lives Matter

The Student Doctor Network (SDN) supports the Black community and their rightful demand for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Cornelius Frederick, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other black lives lost to racial violence in our country. Racism kills and destroys. We believe the systemic racial trauma and inequities in our society must be confronted and brought to an end.

Black Lives Matter

The Student Doctor Network (SDN) was created in 1999 as a nonprofit service to help build a diverse doctor workforce by providing free advising resources, tools, and peer-support forums to those who would otherwise not have access to such services. Our services allow students from across the United States to experience new perspectives, challenge long-held assumptions, and remind us of our shared humanity. Black stories are part of this experience. Black students matter.

We must do more to engage Black pre-health students and health-professional students voices are heard and amplified on our site, our organization and through our outreach. We recognize we have a lot to learn from those voices that have been silenced for too long. We are listening. We welcome any wisdom, advice, or critiques you are willing to offer that will help us make the Student Doctor Network a better, safer community for our Black members and guests.

Although our volunteers and staff are a diverse community of men and women of every background, the Student Doctor Network still has work to do in recognizing our own biases and eliminating any type of privilege within our own processes. We acknowledge that change starts by educating our staff on anti-racist moderation and through diversification of the voices on our pages so we can better serve our community.

We understand that we are responsible for fostering a space that cultivates empathy, gives voice, and serves to empower and change. We pledge that support to you and listen as you hold us accountable.

#blacklivesmatter
#saytheirnames