Bound Together: Allyship in the Art of Medicine

In the setting of the immense social, political, medical, and cultural challenges of last year, medicine has been made acutely aware of its participation in inequity and in response offers allyship as a framework for clinicians to pursue change, using tools already apart of the practice of medicine. Allyship in the workplace can be summarized as a strategic mechanism used by individuals to become collaborators who fight injustice and promote equity through supportive personal relationships and public acts of sponsorship and advocacy. The idea of allyship may be intimidating, particularly for practitioners and leaders who do not belong to the communities they endeavor to support. But as the article unpacks, practitioners need not look any further for how to be allies than what they practice every day: lifelong learning; humility in complications; an expectation of imperfection; and, bound together with those who suffer, persistence in the pursuit of healing.