John Chenault will join UofL School of Medicine Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) as associate professor-director of anti-racism initiatives on Feb. 1.

In this new position, Chenault will support anti-racism in medical student education and lead the development, implementation and evaluation of initiatives guided by the School of Medicine UME Anti-Racism Task Force. He also will provide instruction to faculty and medical students related to undoing race-based medicine, including the incorrect use of race as biological construct, and will coach faculty in developing and updating teaching and exam materials.

A long-time UofL faculty member, Chenault has served as a medical librarian in the Kornhauser Health Sciences Library for 16 years and in the Pan African Studies Department of the College of Arts & Sciences for 14 years. Chenault brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to this new position, having developed and taught undergraduate courses on “Race, Color and Consciousness,” “American Diversity” and “Slavery and the Slave Trade” in addition to publishing and presenting on the topics of institutional and scientific racism in various venues. 

In recent years, his research has focused on the history of medicine and slavery in the United States, including medical experimentation, medical apartheid, health disparities and the role of medical practitioners and biomedical researchers in the invention of race. Chenault has lectured on this research at national and international medical education conferences and taught continuing education classes for physicians and medical school faculty.

Chenault’s accomplishments include outreach efforts to diverse constituencies in Louisville and across the state. In October 2020, he accepted a second three-year appointment by the governor to represent the State of Kentucky’s Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet on the state board of the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage.

Chenault has been an active volunteer on UofL’s Commission on Diversity and Racial Equality and the University Libraries Diversity Committee and he has supported the work of the Health Sciences Center Office of Diversity & Inclusion by conducting workshops, writing articles and assisting with media and promotional efforts. He currently serves on the university’s Cardinal Anti-Racism Task Force and the School of Medicine Anti-Racism Task Force.

Chenault’s outreach activities and support of UofL initiatives also includes international service in the nations of Ghana and Senegal in West Africa, where he trained medical professionals, librarians and health sciences students, and in Panama, where he instructed undergraduate students on the history of U.S. diversity. In addition to his academic career, Chenault’s creative work in the performing arts as a musician, composer, playwright and producer spans five decades and includes commissions from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the American Composer’s Forum, the International Society of Bassists and several prominent U.S. orchestras. His compositions have been performed in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan.

Jan. 25, 2021