AHS & AMF Commitment on the Impact of Recent National Events, Racism, and Healthcare Disparities

We are deeply saddened and horrified by the recent events and ongoing racism in America. With empathy and compassion, we acknowledge the pain and frustration that many are feeling. We stand against racism and for social equity and justice, in solidarity with Black physicians, healthcare professionals, patients, and communities. This is a time for action, not silence.

Racism is a public health issue and as a scientific healthcare organization and patient advocacy organization we recognize the need for us to take an active role.

The American Headache Society and The American Migraine Foundation are committed to improving the lives of people with migraine and other headache disorders. We recognize that systemic racism and the resultant healthcare disparities have a significant negative impact on the Black community. With action, this can change:

• We will listen and learn and then act with intention to eliminate racism, bias, and barriers to healthcare access.
• We will continue to foster an environment of inclusiveness that embraces everyone, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
• We will deliberately work towards increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of our Society and Foundation membership and leadership at all levels.
• We will utilize our organizations to support, mentor, and sponsor physicians and other health professionals from underrepresented groups of color in headache medicine.
• We will support scientific inquiry into the deconstruction of healthcare disparities in headache medicine.
• We will move to eliminate inequities in headache medicine for physicians, other health professionals, and patients through efforts led by our Advocacy Committee, Underserved Populations in Headache Medicine Special Interest Group, and the American Migraine Foundation through education, scholarship, research and advocacy.

We stand in solidarity with our Black communities and all those working against institutional racism and we believe, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated so eloquently: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly”.

When we all stand together, no one stands alone.