The Intersection of Professional Identity Formation, Bias, and Marginalized Identities

The objective of this integrative review is to call attention to the limited published literature on professional identity formation (PIF) in students who hold marginalized identities and to promote more inclusive PIF models.

A person's identity is complicated and PIF is a dynamic and continuous lifelong process. A foundational component to PIF is for students to integrate their developing professional identity with their existing selves. Most PIF theoretical frameworks used in health education were created with a dominant culture lens and during a time when most professionals in practice were cisgendered, White, and/or male. These frameworks do not consider ways in which PIF may differ in learners who hold marginalized identities nor the influence that their marginalized identities may have on facilitators and barriers to their PIF journeys.

PIF is a growing area of focus in pharmacy education and scholarship. To effectively support PIF for each member of a diverse student body, pharmacy educators must recognize the limitations of existing PIF theoretical frameworks owing to the historical exclusion of considerations of students' and practitioners' marginalized identities as a layer of professional identity, especially in the context of historical injustices. As members of the pharmacy Academy begin or continue to explore PIF in pharmacy education, they must be mindful and intentional about how they account for the impact that students' marginalized identities may have on their PIF.