Implicit Bias in Health Care: Consequences and Remedies with Dr. Brenda J. Allen

The Doctor's Life

Dr. Brenda J. Allen is the Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus. She also is a Professor of Communication. Her scholarship focuses on organizational communication and diversity. She assumed her recent role as Chief Diversity Officer in August of 2012. Among her numerous publications is a groundbreaking book entitled Difference Matters: Communicating Social Identity. She presents keynote speeches and conducts workshops on topics such as inclusion in the workplace, strategic planning, unconscious bias, and diversity hiring practices. In today's podcast, Dr. Allen shares with us her path from lecturer at Howard University through her illustrious career at University of Colorado and decribes her role as Vice Chancellor and Dean of Diversity over 13 schools and colleges at University of Colorado, including the Anshutz Medical Campus. Dr. Allen is an expert in implicit bias and teaches widely on this subject. Today we discuss implicit bias and its origins, positive and negative aspects, and its presence in and effects on both individuals and institutions. We discuss the far-reaching effects of implicit bias which extends from how individuals even make the decision to go into healthcare, through the application process and acceptance to fields of study, choices of career, to hiring and how healthcare professionals approach their patients. Are you curious to learn what your implicit biases may be? You can take tests to discover them at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/index.jsp.