Decolonizing Medical Education, Research and Practice
- 1st Edition - August 10, 2026
- Latest edition
- Editor: Faadiel Essop
- Language: English
Decolonizing Medical Education, Research and Practice delves deeply into the complexities of transforming medicine by examining curricula, research, and clinical care. The book h… Read more
Description
Description
Decolonizing Medical Education, Research and Practice delves deeply into the complexities of transforming medicine by examining curricula, research, and clinical care. The book highlights how colonial legacies have shaped medical perspectives, resulting in persistent inequities and barriers to fair healthcare access. By critically analyzing the ways in which colonialism fostered false narratives about race and embedded systemic racism, the text underscores the urgent need to dismantle these longstanding biases. The first section offers a thorough critique of how Eurocentric traditions continue to influence medical education and practice, perpetuating discriminatory treatment and unequal outcomes.
The second part of the book shifts focus to solutions, featuring case studies and practical strategies for creating a more inclusive, culturally sensitive healthcare system. Written by leading global experts, it is a vital resource for medical students, postgraduates, clinicians, educators, researchers, and policymakers interested in meaningful change. The authors aim to inspire a new era in medicine that acknowledges past harms and works toward equitable healthcare for communities worldwide.
The second part of the book shifts focus to solutions, featuring case studies and practical strategies for creating a more inclusive, culturally sensitive healthcare system. Written by leading global experts, it is a vital resource for medical students, postgraduates, clinicians, educators, researchers, and policymakers interested in meaningful change. The authors aim to inspire a new era in medicine that acknowledges past harms and works toward equitable healthcare for communities worldwide.
Key features
Key features
- Presents practical and theoretical ways to decolonize medical and allied health sciences curricula, research, and clinical practice
- Informs medical and biomedical researchers of the false premise of using racial groups in clinical studies
- Shares unique insights on how colonialism and persistent scientific racism have influenced clinical practices
Readership
Readership
Academics at medical schools/colleges, under- and postgraduate students pursuing medical, allied health and biomedical sciences, postdoctoral fellows, doctors/clinicians, health care professionals and workers, leaders in universities, leaders in research and healthcare, policy makers
Table of contents
Table of contents
PART I: Challenges
1. From slave ships to contemporary clinics: The US neo-slavery medical complex
Joe R. Feagin
2. Intersections between colonialism, medical racism, and race-based medical practice
Faadiel Essop, Saleha Suleman
3. Race, racism, and the US production and exportation of medical science
Jaya Aysola, Michelle Munyikwa
4. Colonial laboratories as imperial sites of knowledge production: The case of the Medical Research Institute (MRI) in Nigeria
Adedamola Adetiba
5. When evidence misrepresents: Epistemic failures of evidence-based medicine and the BiDil controversy
Wandile Ganya, Wanele Ganya
PART II: Solutions
6. Knowing the dead: Pedagogies of forensic humanitarian action in postcolonial contexts
Keegan O. Meiring, Kathryn Smith, Amanda Alblas
7. Case study: Decolonizing the postgraduate biomedical sciences curriculum
Faadiel Essop, Rhoda Meyer
8. Decolonizing the medical curriculum: A history, a process, and the fleshy remainder
Rachel Niehuus
9. Toward sustainable change: Embedding decolonial implementation science in medical training to reimagine our world
Patricia Maritim, Ramya Kumar, Muneera Rasheed
10. Integrating indigenous knowledge into the health sciences curriculum: A path toward decolonial healing and holistic care
Mabitja Moeta
11. Not asking for a seat, but building a new table: Case for a Global South–centered model in medicine
Muneera Rasheed
12. Toward inclusive medical education, research, and practice: Removing race from genetics
Pedro W. Fernandez, Phila M. Msimang, Caitlin Uren, Desiree C. Petersen
13. Shaping an inclusive health care ethics framework in the 21st century: Lessons from African bioethics and relational approaches
Berna Gerber, Juan Bornman, Alida Naudé
14. Reclaiming wholeness: Ayurveda, colonization, and the healing of medicine
Sheila Patel
15. Harnessing the health-promoting potential of indigenous foods: Enhancing public health and advancing environmental sustainability
Xikombiso Mbhenyane, Nomakhushe Nxusani, Vanessa Mbhatsani, Sefora Makuse, Mthokozisi Zuma
PART III: Future horizons
16. Conclusion
Faadiel Essop
1. From slave ships to contemporary clinics: The US neo-slavery medical complex
Joe R. Feagin
2. Intersections between colonialism, medical racism, and race-based medical practice
Faadiel Essop, Saleha Suleman
3. Race, racism, and the US production and exportation of medical science
Jaya Aysola, Michelle Munyikwa
4. Colonial laboratories as imperial sites of knowledge production: The case of the Medical Research Institute (MRI) in Nigeria
Adedamola Adetiba
5. When evidence misrepresents: Epistemic failures of evidence-based medicine and the BiDil controversy
Wandile Ganya, Wanele Ganya
PART II: Solutions
6. Knowing the dead: Pedagogies of forensic humanitarian action in postcolonial contexts
Keegan O. Meiring, Kathryn Smith, Amanda Alblas
7. Case study: Decolonizing the postgraduate biomedical sciences curriculum
Faadiel Essop, Rhoda Meyer
8. Decolonizing the medical curriculum: A history, a process, and the fleshy remainder
Rachel Niehuus
9. Toward sustainable change: Embedding decolonial implementation science in medical training to reimagine our world
Patricia Maritim, Ramya Kumar, Muneera Rasheed
10. Integrating indigenous knowledge into the health sciences curriculum: A path toward decolonial healing and holistic care
Mabitja Moeta
11. Not asking for a seat, but building a new table: Case for a Global South–centered model in medicine
Muneera Rasheed
12. Toward inclusive medical education, research, and practice: Removing race from genetics
Pedro W. Fernandez, Phila M. Msimang, Caitlin Uren, Desiree C. Petersen
13. Shaping an inclusive health care ethics framework in the 21st century: Lessons from African bioethics and relational approaches
Berna Gerber, Juan Bornman, Alida Naudé
14. Reclaiming wholeness: Ayurveda, colonization, and the healing of medicine
Sheila Patel
15. Harnessing the health-promoting potential of indigenous foods: Enhancing public health and advancing environmental sustainability
Xikombiso Mbhenyane, Nomakhushe Nxusani, Vanessa Mbhatsani, Sefora Makuse, Mthokozisi Zuma
PART III: Future horizons
16. Conclusion
Faadiel Essop
Product details
Product details
- Edition: 1
- Latest edition
- Published: August 12, 2026
- Language: English
About the editor
About the editor
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Faadiel Essop
Dr. Faadiel Essop is currently a professor in the Division of Medical Physiology at Stellenbosch University, as well as Director and Co-Founder of the Centre for Cardio-metabolic Research Centre. Dr. Essop is the current President of the African Association of Physiological Sciences, a board member of the General Assembly of the International Union of Physiological Sciences, and chairperson of the South African National Committee of the IUPS. He’s also served as a member of the International Committee of the American Physiological Society and is an elected Fellow of the American Physiological Society. During 2021 he was awarded the PSSA’s prestigious Lifetime Career Achievement Award. Dr. Essop is currently the recipient of a Teaching Advancement at University fellowship where the focus is to develop a philosophical framework for the introduction of broader humanities and arts concepts into the biomedical, science and engineering curricula in order to ensure more holistic graduates.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor, Chair, Division of Cell and Medical Physiology, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South AfricaView book on ScienceDirect
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