The Health Disparities Podcast

Baton Rouge has created a culture of health through its public private partnerships. Using many creative approaches, Baton Rouge seeks to blend cooperation, competition, and personal responsibility, with civic leadership, health equity and community resources. Featuring Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, Coletta Barrett from the Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, and NAON President...

Google and YouTube have done a pretty good job of organizing the internet in a way that makes it quick and easy to find that one thing or website we need out of literally billions of options - including health information. In this episode, Dr. Graham and Dr. Gorham explore the theme of meeting people where they are, particularly where that place is an individual’s phone, and the individual is shar...

As COVID-19 emerged during early 2020, people all over the world were feeling similar negative emotions. Operation Change leaders were learning the extent to which participants were feeling let down and unsupported, so they urgently looked for solutions. In this episode, our panel of Operation Change community leaders reflect on the impact that COVID had on the groups they had convened, and share...

For this episode of the Health Disparities Podcast, three members of the LaSure extended family gathered at the annual Movement is Life caucus to discuss their tradition of working in service to the greater good, a tradition which goes back many generations. Their discussion touches on aspects of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that these family members have witnessed in different spheres of serv...

Hawaii has long held the record for the highest average life expectancy in the US. The islands also enjoy some of the lowest COVID-19 infection and mortality numbers along with high vaccination rates. Dr. Green attributes near-universal healthcare coverage and a strong emphasis on primary care with Hawaiians good life expectancy, but Native Hawaiians live comparatively shorter lives. Parts of Hawa...

Back in the early days of the pandemic, SUNY Downstate President Dr. Wayne Riley found himself leading a major health system responsible for the care of some of the most vulnerable communities in New York City through unprecedented times. As the hospitals filled up with COVID patients his teams had to simultaneously support their staff and plan their response for patients. Dr. Riley discusses some...

Recorded at the Movement is Life Caucus, our panel of health law thought leaders continue their discussion about the shaping of American law to reduce health disparities and protect human dignity.  Featuring Frank McClellan, JD, LLM, Law Professor Emeritus from Temple University and author of “Healthcare and Human Dignity”; D. Deone Powell, ESQ, from HIV and primary care organization Philadelphia...

Dr. Calvin Johnson, MD, MPH, has built his varied career at the intersections of medicine, data science, and public health. This episode explores a wide range of topics related to health equity in a fascinating discussion, including the historical significance of Morehouse School, the importance and vulnerability of safety net hospitals, addressing the enduring issue of limited access to care for...

Kelly Bruno, President & CEO of the National Health Foundation joins us to discuss healthcare for the homeless. California has a disproportionate share of the nation’s homeless population, approximately 161,000 of the total homeless population of 580,000. The National Health Foundation, a California-based organization focused on recuperative care in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, offers medical...

October is Physical Therapy Month, and this year the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) has a new campaign. Orthopedist Dr. Mary O’Connor meets with Dr. Hadiya Green Guerrero, a senior practice specialist at APTA, and Dr. Drew Contreras, APTAs Vice President of Clinical Integration and Innovation, to discuss the #ChoosePT campaign. Dr. Green Guerrero and Dr. Contreras also share some of...

“From the health community, we recognize that climate change is a public health issue, and we stand ready to address that. I’m so proud that this administration has named the first office in HHS that is going to address Climate Change and Health Equity.”  ~ Dr. Doris Browne. Sequel to Episode 101.

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), originally called Workplace Affinity Groups, began in the 1960s in response to racial tensions in the United States. These groups have roots in the desire to advocate for employees and give them a space at work to be their best authentic selves. To what extent are ERGs making a difference in benefiting employees, their employers, and the many stakeholders engaged w...

In her book Flatling, released in 2019, Dr. Adia Wingfield articulated how the burden of equity initiatives furthering diversity and inclusion in healthcare is being disproportionately shouldered by the very populations these initiatives intend to support. Today our panel revisits Flatlining and explores the additional implications of the pandemic for equity work during this “new-new economy,” and...

After experiencing care that did not align with her expectations, Sheena Franklin has embarked on a mission to make dermatology more accessible and equitable. In today’s episode K’ept Health CEO Sheena Franklin discusses how innovation can take us closer to personalized and equitable healthcare.

Our diverse panel of professionals share many experiences that shaped their development, and insights they gleaned along the way, as they overcame barriers such as bias and microaggressions to achieve their career and life goals.

Part 2: COVID-19 context. A group of independent and competing organizations decided to work together collaboratively so that their community health needs assessment (CHNA) covers more people and a larger area. Our panel continues their discussion about this novel, collaborative, community-wide model for completing a CHNA, and explores how it enabled them to build a more coordinated response to th...

Part 1. Community health needs assessments and implementation strategies are required for tax-exempt hospitals as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They provide a framework to improve coordination of hospital community benefits with other efforts to improve community health.

After building a career in hospital management and healthcare consulting, Duane Reynolds gravitated towards the health equity space after leading several inclusion-focused initiatives.

June 5th is World Environment Day, an initiative of the United Nations, and part of the framework that ended the ozone layer crisis. But now there are new environmental crises looming large and threatening our most vulnerable populations.

Podcast host Sharon LaSure-Roy and series producer Rolf Taylor discuss the overall mission of The Health Disparities Podcast, a program of the Movement is Life Caucus.

Professor Augustus “Gus” White III didn’t just pioneer the understanding of unconscious bias through research methodology during his illustrious career as an orthopedic surgeon. The author of “Overcoming” & “Seeing Patients” has also spent a lifetime fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion wherever he has worked, often by emphasizing our common humanity – his use of the term “fellow humans”...

At the height of the pandemic, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Nur Nurbhai found himself helping out his colleague Dr. Eddie Black in the emergency room. All elective surgeries were cancelled, cutting off a vital revenue stream for the hospital.

This week our panel discusses the approaches that their organizations, community leaders and faith leaders have taken with bringing pandemic vaccine clinics to underserved populations, and their commitment to equitable vaccine distribution.

The community health design and innovation team at Sibley Memorial Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, invited communities in DC’s Wards 7 & 8 to help define their own solutions to health disparities and inequities. The resulting Ward Infinity social innovation program is now a model for community intervention.

For many years a familiar face on CBS in Washington DC, and winner of 22 Emmys, Bruce Johnson has made health awareness and equity part of his life’s mission. In this episode Bruce joins podcast host Dr. Mary O’Connor to explore the power of the media to solve our health disparities crisis.