The Racial Equity Consciousness Institute (RECI) has taken a significant step forward in addressing systemic racism with a $5 million grant recently awarded from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This grant is a collaborative initiative with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Social Work and Medicine combining expertise to cultivate racial equity in the biomedical field.
Founded in 2021 by Ron Idoko, associate director of the Center on Race and Social Problems, RECI has emerged as a response to the pervasive and destructive effects of systemic racism on public health. Idoko’s vision for RECI was shaped during his time as a program manager at Pitt’s Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, where he developed anti-bias education programs. “What prompted development of RECI was the need to really put people in a position to feel like they could learn how complex and pervasive racism is and just as importantly, learn the concepts of racial equity and how to cultivate it within themselves and within their communities” Idoko says. RECI is now housed under Pitt’s Center on Race and Social Problems at the School of Social Work and hosts regular learning community cohorts engaging hundreds of participants in its mission to advance racial equity.
Idoko emphasizes that systemic racism functions like a social virus, deeply embedded in the fabric of institutions and often perpetuated through socialized biases and behaviors and affecting the public health of marginalized communities. RECI seeks to counteract and mitigate these effects by acting as a “vaccine” - promoting awareness and empowering individuals with the tools and knowledge to enact change within their communities and organizations. “To be antiracist is to vaccinate ourselves from the unconscious perpetuation of racism by consciously examining and modifying our socialized thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding race and racism. It is to understand that ongoing, collective action is needed to foster equitable opportunities and outcomes for those who have endured long-standing structural and systemic inequities” Idoko states. At the core of RECI’s methodology is the racial equity consciousness framework, which provides participants with a guided process to understand and address the multifaceted nature of racism. This framework combines elements of cognitive behavioral therapy with evidence-based strategies to promote equity-conscious behaviors, such as addressing biases, building empathy and fostering racial healing. RECI’s workshops delve into the origins of racial constructs, highlighting their historical and systemic impacts. Participants are equipped with reflective and communicative tools to challenge inequities and embrace racial justice. This approach makes RECI a “timeless framework” for fostering sustained efforts toward equity.
The NIH grant will enable researchers to assess the effectiveness of RECI’s training model, as well as other implicit bias interventions, on improving diversity and retention in healthcare settings. The study will focus on how these programs influence attitudes and behaviors that perpetuate racial disparities, particularly in healthcare outcomes for marginalized groups. A groundbreaking aspect of the research involves the use of functional brain imaging (fMRI) to measure structural brain changes in select participants before and after the interventions. Thi
s method will offer insights into how RECI’s framework fosters lasting cognitive and behavioral shifts. Participants from 30 institutions across the country will take part in this randomized trial. Key collaborators on the project include Dr. Doris Rubio, director of Pitt’s Institute for Clinical Research Education, and Dr. Gretchen White, assistant professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Clinical and Translational Science. Idoko says that he’s both humbled and affirmed by the NIH’s support through this new grant and is excited to see the impact that this study will have both in the United States and across the globe. He states, “we want to be able to position people across the country and beyond to understand that racism is indeed a solvable problem, and that we can leverage evidence-based strategies [and] data-driven practices to put people in a position to become incredible agents of change in their own community”. By combining thoughtful research with actionable strategies, RECI represents a bold step toward dismantling inequities and fostering a culture of racial justice