Table 1 Mitigation strategies for selected observed phenomena

Academic Redlining

Serve on admissions committees. Identify and advocate for minoritized students that may otherwise be excluded by automatic cut offs

Adopt more holistic admissions criteria, including recognition of distance travelled by students, and examine applications from all minoritized students in your applicant pool. Implement bias training for all admissions committee members at regular intervals (every 2–3 years)

Deficiency Model

Refer to all academic disparities between minoritized and non-minoritized groups as educational system failures and not individual failures

Provide opportunities for minoritized students that address system failures (tutoring, test preparation, etc.) and ensure that those opportunities are available to all students

Gate Blocking

Support and encourage minoritized junior faculty to rise through the ranks with opportunities to gain the necessary skills to ensure any administrative work, (especially equity, diversity, and inclusion work), is counted for their career advancement and is in harmony with their career goals. Support should include professional coaching, faculty development, direct mentorship, and a commitment of time and financial resources toward their professional work

Invisibility tax

Establish a women’s advisory council with direct responsibility to and authority from the president of the university

Create awards, leadership positions, and events that honor, promote, and recognize the invaluable contributions of individual women faculty, and women in medicine as a group

Citizenship tax

Ensure that citizenship tasks are equitably distributed among the faculty. Many of these tasks may better serve the institution in the professional staff space. Specifically examine the percentage of citizenship tasks that are performed by women and redistribute as needed

Gratitude Tax

Review committee composition to ensure URM faculty are included and equitably represented and can share dissenting opinions in a psychological safe space

Recognize when URM faculty agree with Academic Health System leaders out of convenience or fear and create opportunity to determine if true agreement exists or if this group is agreeing because of institutional or organizational hierarchy or the gratitude tax [19, 49, 52].

Professional Gaslighting

When a URM faculty member expresses feelings of burnout, micro-aggressions, or disorientation, believe them and use departmental resources to support them and correct the underlying cause of their misaligned experience. Consider monitoring URM faculty members for signs of isolation or misalignment and engage with them through mentorship and sponsorship that is sensitive to their unique needs in the academic space