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JAMA Editor-in-Chief Resigns Over Podcast Questioning Existence of Racism in Medicine

JAMA published a podcast in February questioning whether racism existed in medicine.

The editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association will step down from his position at the end of the June, the prestigious publication’s parent organization announced Tuesday. Dr. Howard Bauchner, who had already been on administrative leave for a month, leaves his position in the wake of a controversy over a podcast published by JAMA that questioned the existence of racism in medicine despite decades of evidence of health disparities between minority groups and white people. A tweet promoting the podcast read, “No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in health care?” Blauchner said in a press release, “I remain profoundly disappointed in myself for the lapses that led to the publishing of the tweet and podcast. Although I did not write or even see the tweet, or create the podcast, as editor-in-chief, I am ultimately responsible for them.”