Medical group celebrates five-year milestone
Staff and students involved with MedRACE at the exhibition
A group set up to prevent and address racial harassment in medicine is celebrating its five-year anniversary.
MEDRACE (Raising Awareness Celebrating Excellence) is a student/staff group at the University of Leicester’s Medical School championing diversity, equity and inclusion in the profession and working to progress the British Medical Association (BMA) Charter for medical schools set up to address and prevent racial harassment.
A week of events and a national conference with key note speakers and workshops has taken place during Race Equality Week to mark the anniversary, including a special exhibition of work by staff and students exploring the theme of inclusion in healthcare featuring visual art, photography, written pieces, sculpture and multimedia.
Kate Williams is Professor of Education in Applied Health Research, and staff co-chair of MedRACE.
She said: “It’s a great achievement to reach this five-year milestone with a series of events highlighting the vital and important work taking place here at Leicester’s Medical School to ensure an equitable working environment, free of harassment.
“We’ve championed changes, introducing a racial inclusion tool kit to help ‘decolonise the medical curriculum’, ensuring students see illustrations that embody all ethnicities. Not only that but we have ensured theatre headwear is available for all hair types, and actively encourage individuals to speak out when issues arise by being an active bystander. We’ve also worked with central services to ensure students access robust processes for reporting and handling complaints and increased diversity in our staff interview processes by training and working with students on medical school appointment panels.”
Conference Director, Dr Mashuda Khandokar, graduated from Leicester Medical School two years ago, joining MedRACE from its inception and now as an alumnus, continuing as a MedRACE Fellow.
She said: “I wanted to champion healthcare equality and be part of something that could improve the curriculum. I think MedRACE is fairly unique in that it’s a collaboration between staff and students so we work together to raise issues and find solutions and that’s continued into my professional life – giving me the confidence to speak up when I need to.
“I’m proud of MedRACE and its achievements on behalf of all minority groups. I’m glad that a forum like this exists and I know that others schools and colleges hope to emulate this elsewhere because it’s effective and really works for the greater good. Hitting our five-year anniversary is definitely something to celebrate.”
Final year medical student Amardeep Sidki said MedRACE had provided a “pivotal experience in my medical school journey.”He said: “We have built a space for much-needed conversations, grounded in a flat hierarchy that promotes transparency and collaboration between students and staff.
“Teaching with MedRACE has given me the chance to truly connect with my student colleagues—learning to answer their questions with confidence, gaining a deeper curiosity about their experiences, and showing them that EDI is not just a theoretical concept. It’s real, it’s universal, and its impact extends far beyond Medicine.”
Fellow final year student Olivia Nwosu said: “I’m proud to be part of a team that has made such pioneering and positive change. MedRACE has enriched my medical school experience and deepened my understanding of the issues that my fellow medical students face. I hope that we can inspire others, especially those from underrepresented communities, to apply for leadership roles in the medical school, as I believe that the people in leadership positions should reflect our diverse community.”