Racism in medicine and the impact on physician wellness

Sound Mind: conversations about physician wellness and medical culture

"We've often been stalled by the fact that medicine is painted as this altruistic, noble, honourable profession, forgetting that medicine is built on such heinous acts of racial violence that we don't often acknowledge." – Dr. Joseph Mpalirwa

Dr. Joseph Mpalirwa is a family physician at Toronto's Casey House and recently co-authored a study on Black physicians' experiences of racism and discrimination in Ontario.

In this episode, he joins Dr. Kenneth Fung, an award-winning psychiatrist and clinical director of the Asian Initiative in Mental Health at Toronto Western Hospital, in conversation with Dr. Caroline Gérin-Lajoie about how systemic racism affects both the mental well-being of physicians and the overall health of patients.

Speaking from both personal experience and as leaders in the field, Dr. Fung and Dr. Mpalirwa describe the “highly demoralizing” impact of racism and how it increases the risk of burnout among physicians.

Want to learn more about physician wellness? Visit the CMA Physician Wellness Hub for curated, clinically based tools, resources, and research on all the topics covered in this podcast.