Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness in Medicine and Cardiology

The article by Wang, “Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity: Evolution of Race and Ethnicity Considerations for the Cardiology Workforce in the United States of America From 1969 to 2019” (J Am Heart Assoc. 2020;9:e015959. 10.1161/JAHA.120.015959), claimed ”to provide an overview of policies that have been created to impact the racial and ethnic composition of the cardiology workforce, to consider the evolution of racial and ethnic preferences in legal and medical spheres, to critically assess current paradigms and to consider potential solutions to anticipated challenges”. ¹ In fact, its central purpose was to argue against affirmative action, noting that Black and Hispanic trainees in medicine are less qualified than White and Asian trainees. These opinions do not reflect in any way my views, the views of the JAHA Editorial Board, or the views of the American Heart Association. We condemn discrimination and racism in all forms.

Much more needs to be done to increase diversity, equity and inclusiveness in medicine and cardiology. In my opinion, the article by Dr. Wang does nothing to get us towards that goal. As Editor‐in‐Chief of the Journal of the American Heart Association, I apologize for my role and for the role of my staff in the publication of this viewpoint article. JAHA will support all efforts to correct this error, including but not limited to the publication of alternate viewpoints, which we solicited at the time of publication but have not yet been submitted to the journal. In addition, we will work to improve our peer review system to prevent future missteps of this type. I can only hope that igniting a discussion around diversity in cardiology will ultimately fuel new ideas and lead to real advances.

(J Am Heart Assoc. 2020;9:e014592 DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.119.014592.)