Race in Ophthalmology.

Over the last several years, attention has been drawn to the role of race, bias, and discrimination across many facets of society. Medicine, in particular, has a long history of racialization, including overt bias, racial disparities in care and outcomes, and race-based medicine. Ophthalmology is, in many ways, at the forefront of medicine, with rapid advancement in technology, drug delivery, and surgical techniques. Unfortunately, our field lags behind in efforts to push forward the diversity and social progress needed in medicine. Racially, the ophthalmology workforce, departments, and residencies remain less diverse compared with medicine as a whole as well as the U.S. population. In fact, in a recent survey of U.S. residency programs' racial diversity, ophthalmology ranked last.[1] However, increasing racial diversity alone will not automatically result in a complete understanding of and reckoning with the role of race in our field. This requires a more intentional effort and greater conversation around how race impacts the ways we think and practice and how race-based ophthalmology can weaken the care we provide for our patients.