East Lansing City Council unanimously approved a resolution that declares racism a public health crisis, during the Tuesday night meeting.

It also lists 11 other points that the City Council shall do. These include promoting equity through all policies approved by the council, advocating locally for policies that improve health in communities of color, continue on-going racial equity training and conducting an annual review of declarations and commitments listed in the resolution as a public health crisis across the various governmental bodies by the DEI administration in partnership with the HRC and other relevant boards and commissions.

Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine has introduced its Research to Reduce Disparities in Disease Program as the only NIH-funded training program for medical students, and it specifically focuses on training medical students to become clinical researchers.

MSU designed the R2D2 scholarship program for students interested in performing clinical research in their future careers and aspiring to further their research skills and practice with clinical research.

Recipients of the scholarship program will receive $15,000 total across two years of program participation.