The Health Disparities Podcast

Research findings from Mayo Clinic & published in the Journal of the American Heart Association at the end of 2022 found that “participating in religious activities, from church services to private prayer, as well as holding deep spiritual beliefs, are linked to better cardiovascular health among Black Americans.” According to Dr Brewer of the Mayo Clinic, multiple socially determined challeng...

In a recent white paper, “Normalize DEI in Your Organization,” professors at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business discuss common barriers to real progress in DEI, and offer evidence-based steps that can help transform DEI efforts from siloed side-projects to core systems embraced throughout an organization’s culture and practices. For this episode of the podcast, one of the authors...

Value-based care has emerged as an alternative and potential replacement for traditional fee-for-service reimbursement, centering quality and outcomes rather than quantity. That is the theory. In practice, value-based care has been shown to exacerbate some disparities in the healthcare system by making it harder for those patients with complex conditions, or being impacted by social determinants o...

One of the recurring themes linked to healthcare in the United States is that where the need is greatest, there you are likely to find the fewest resources needed for resilience to challenges. This is particularly true during a disaster, be it pandemic, hurricane or economic downturn. A year into the COVID pandemic, the St. Bernard safety-net hospital in the South Side of Chicago received an “F” g...

Dr. April Kapu, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FCCM, FAAN, is president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP). She has 30 years of experience in health care and 18 years as an acute care nurse practitioner (NP). Dr. Kapu has committed her career to advancing NP-delivered care and increasing access to NP care across all settings. Currently, she is Associate Dean for Clinical and Co...

Carol Redmond Naughton, JD, shares with us some aspects of the proven Purpose Built Communities model, working with local leaders to help them plan, implement, and sustain holistic neighborhood revitalization initiatives that create healthy neighborhoods which include broad, deep, and permanent pathways to prosperity for low-income families. During the discussion she describes the essential role o...

Dr. Tamara Huff, MD, MBA sits down with Dr. Alisahah Jackson for a discussion about enhancing the health of every community, and they explore the challenges of building healthier communities against a backdrop of declining health infrastructure, particularly in rural communities. They also discuss the reality of the elephant in the room, that racism exists both in terms of attitudes and bias, and...

Dr. Garfield Clunie (NYU Langone) works on the frontline of maternal child health in New York City, where recent policies to standardize treatments are part of efforts to replace outdated race-based decision-making with more equitable care. This insightful conversation, hosted by Dr. Michelle Leak (Mayo Clinic, Florida), covers several discussion areas. Firstly, the importance of the concept of be...

Episode 137. Following on from a workshop titled “JEDI Journey: This is the Way,” our diverse panel discusses the importance of processes such as integrating the social determinants of health (SDOH) into information systems via Z codes to advance Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) & anti-racism. With episode host Charla Johnson, DNP, and guests Tonya Jagneaux, MD, Holly Pilson, MD, and...

People live and work in social communities, where a huge amount of information that drives decision making around health is disseminated person to person by community voices. Our panel of Hispanic health leaders discuss how achieving health equity requires healthcare providers to utilize social influence as a way to improve population health.   Dr. Adela Valdez describes the concept of community i...

Integrating clinical excellence with health equity at Walgreens, & driving urban innovation at the Lindy Institute. Featuring Dr. Priya Mammen, MD, MPH  Emergency room physician and public health leader Dr. Priya Mammen, MD, MPH, still misses her acute care patients, but building on her clinical experiences has enabled her to find ways to advance both urban innovation and health equity. In this in...

“The Race Cards” is an interactive resource kit and activity designed for small groups. Working to end racism so that everyone thrives requires some uncomfortable conversations to be facilitated, because too often discussions about race either stay at the surface level or happen only among audiences steeped in knowledge about sociology, history, systemic racism, and privilege. The Race Cards creat...

COVID-19 impacted mental health in fundamental ways, forcing isolation and insecurity on individuals, families, and communities. Dr. Reginald Richardson explores ways we can rebuild resilience as we transition from pandemic to endemic, with particular emphasis on social support. Dr. Richardson also discusses how isolation has had a particularly damaging influence on alcohol and drug addiction rate...

Diversity as a goal has been considered a compelling reason (and legal precedent) for higher education institutions to apply policies which attempt to correct the effects of intentional and structural discrimination impacting gender, race, and ethnicity. Our esteemed panel of healthcare stakeholders and health equity advocates share personal experiences of how affirmative action has benefitted the...

Featuring Cara McClellan, JD, MEd, and Mary I. O’Connor, MD. Addressing the under-representation of racial minorities in the health professions is considered central to reducing overall health disparities and inequalities. Multiple “race-conscious” laws and policies have been introduced that seek to help marginalized communities, ranging from affirmative action to voting rights, reproductive right...

Jennifer Truscott is Senior Vice President, Cross-Enterprise Strategic Innovation, with Aetna, whose parent company is CVS. Jennifer shares some of the ways in which CVS is centering and investing in health equity, particularly at the local level, by leveraging the strong engagement that CVS has with many underserved communities. Initiatives discussed include investments in specific “Health Zones,...

We visit San Diego’s Salvation Army Kroc Center for an Operation Change Town Hall welcoming the local Hispanic community. For the first time since lockdown, Operation Change convenes its program in San Diego. There is a joyful and grateful atmosphere, although some participants have sad news to share about loved ones lost to the pandemic. Our interviews reveal how Operation Change is much more tha...

In Part 2 of our Caucus Workshops Preview, Dr. Millicent Gorham, Dr. Mary O’Connor and podcast host Rolf Taylor discuss the “Movement” workshop series from the Movement is Life Caucus which convenes on November 10-11, 2022. Workshop 5: Social Influences of Health – Opening Doors, Opening Minds, impacting lives, Strategies to Improve Well Being. Workshop 6: Shared Decision Making - Beyond the Hype....

In Part 1 of our Caucus Workshops Preview, Dr. Millicent Gorham, Dr. Mary O’Connor and podcast host Rolf Taylor discuss the “Activism” workshop series from the Movement is Life Caucus which convenes on November 10-11, 2022. Workshop 1: Is Health Equity the New Startup? Workshop 2: Playing the Race Cards, Conversations on Racial Healing and Equity. Workshop 3: The Art of Storytelling – Changing the...

It’s been over two years since COVID-19 put everyone’s plans on hold. Community wellness programs such as Operation Change had to be paused, and everyone did their best to stay healthy in their homes during lockdown. This Town Hall at the South Side YMCA in Chicago is a welcome return to community gatherings, and an opportunity for past participants of Operation Change to reconnect, and also intro...

The Movement is Life Annual Caucus is a major event on the health equity conference calendar. With the theme of “Health Equity Beyond the Headlines,” this year’s meeting convenes an outstanding group of leaders who are defining and implementing real solutions to health inequities. Join Caucus Chair Dr. Mary O’Connor and Movement is Life’s inaugural Executive Director Dr. Millicent Gorham for a pre...

Neal Neuberger has spent the past 35 years in Washington as a recognized leader for healthcare and information technology policy and strategy. In this episode, he will discuss telemedicine and the effect it can have on health disparity in rural areas. With host Bill Finerfrock.

Medical notes capture information that informs decision making. They can also reveal how healthcare providers are judging their patients, and patients reading those notes can feel offended, shamed and stigmatized by what they read. Drawing from her work as a Latina primary care clinician and health equity advocate, and as a Harvard Professor, Dr. Fernández highlights the importance of language and...

We often hear about the role of microaggressions, macroaggressions, and atomic aggressions during discussions about health equity. Often driven by unconscious bias, microaggressions are intrinsic to the processes of marginalization, racism and sexism that impact both patients and providers during the complex interactions that occur every day in the healthcare setting. How do we go about reducing a...

Dr. Mary O’Connor invites fellow surgeon and singing sensation Dr. Elvis Francois to share his story. Dr. Elvis found fame on "The Masked Singer" after recording and posting inspirational performances accompanied by fellow physician Dr. William Robinson. In this episode, Dr. Elvis talks about the importance of integrating humanity into medicine, and how the emotional connections created through ou...