The Health Disparities Podcast

Christina Jimenez, Ph. D. is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado, and an expert in the processes of privilege that can both limit and promote opportunities for individuals, dependent on factors such as race, ethnicity, gender and class.

Medical anthropology may not be the first discipline we associate with public health, but it provides perspectives that are vital to understanding the many and complex intersections at the root of health disparities.

Professor Dayna Bowen Matthew is a leader in public health who focuses on structural and racial disparities in health care. In this podcast she discusses vast inequalities we see in health access and health outcomes between majority and minority populations, which she says are derived from systematic segregation, discrimination and racism.

Privilege is when a person or group enjoys an unearned advantage over other(s). As the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically highlighted, those with less privilege often pay the ultimate price in times of crisis.

Marking National Nurses Week 2020 and the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale's birth, nurse advocates and leaders from across the U.S. meet to celebrate the nursing profession and discuss many topics, including its diversity, future aspirations, and their nursing heroes. Featuring Rose Gonzalez, Millicent Gorham, Charla Johnson, Julie Kneedler, Doreen Johnson, and Mary Behrens.

Alameda County is home to 1.7M diverse Californians who have long experienced health disparities. Alameda Hospital System (AHS) CEO Delvecchio Finley takes us inside the workings of AHS as they adapt to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on people of color is rightly making headlines. Reverend Dr. Franklyn Richardson of Grace Baptist Church in New York, a national leader for social justice, has seen his online church attendance blossom from 2,000 to 9,000 live-streams, and his church is feeding at least 500 families very week.

As a physician interested in health policy, UPMC orthopedic surgeon MaCalus Hogan MD, MBA, has helped develop cutting edge approaches. The University of Pittsburgh payer-provider model enables innovations in technology and delivery models, including value-based approaches that pre-date the Affordable Care Act era.

The circumstances around early childhood development have ramifications throughout a person’s life. Ronnie Musgrove, Governor of Mississippi between 2000 and 2004 discusses his conviction that early intervention is vital to good outcomes across education, health and the local economy.

Healthcare payment systems are so complicated that when it comes to fitting all the pieces together, hope may be the dominant strategy. Too often, policies and initiatives designed to improve healthcare quality hit a roadblock in payment systems, and the money cannot follow good intent.

Care providers taking care of joint replacement and broken bones are having to adapt their practices during the pandemic. In this podcast orthopedic surgeons from Connecticut, Georgia and Pennsylvania meet online to discuss some of the changes their health systems are making.

Dr. Claire Pomeroy continues her discussion with Dr. Bonnie Simpson Mason, considering how extensive rural poverty underpins rural health disparities, and how these are being made worse by hospital closures.

The COVID-19 podcast everyone needs to hear. Four experienced doctors working on the frontlines of healthcare share their words of wisdom. Together they discuss the important subjects...

Social determinants of health, the life circumstances in which we are born, educated, work and play, are powerful drivers of as much as 90% of our health status. Lasker Foundation President Dr Claire Pomeroy discusses ways that race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, the safety of our neighborhoods, having good access to food, and feeling part of a community all combine to impact health.

Nobody can ignore the COVID-19 pandemic. But will some communities be hit harder than others? What are the implications for people with diabetes and obesity? Will everyone be able to access care if they need it?

Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA, FAAP, FACP, FTOS is an obesity medicine physician scientist, educator, and policy maker at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She is a national and international sought-after expert in obesity medicine who bridges the intersection of medicine, public health, policy, and disparities.

Fixing the incredible dysfunction of the healthcare system has been a career guiding light for Adrienne White-Faines, MPA, FACHE. Since electing to stay on the policy and strategy side of healthcare, she has held leadership roles with the American Cancer Society, the Primary Care Collaborative, and most recently as CEO of the American Osteopathic Association.

Known by most as simply “Father Greg”, Father Gregory Boyle founded Homeboy Industries, Inc. in Los Angeles to provide pathways out of violence through education, employment and community support.

This year’s Vanguard Award winner is Dr. Patricia McManus, founder of the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin (BHCW).

Orthopedic surgeon Tamara Huff, MD was inspired by her mothers’ interest in carpentry (and her power tool collection) to take her medical career path, ultimately leading to the operating room.

Although fee-for-service payments may encourage volume without rewarding quality, bundled payments may incentivize providers to avoid patients more prone to complications...

In some faith-based communities there has been an evolving sense of what constitutes transformation and salvation. Harlem native Rev. Willis Steele discusses the health needs of the congregations and communities he works with, his experience of integrating health into faith practice, and how mental health support can be complementary to spirituality. Rev. Steele also describes an inter-generationa...

Yale hip and knee surgeon Daniel Wiznia, MD, used a “secret shopper” methodology to research and reveal patterns of appointment making that seem to indicate a marked preference for commercial insurance on the part of some surgery providers, which creates a barrier to access for Medicare and Medicaid patients. Is this a negative consequence of the bundled payments ushered in by the ACA reforms, and...

Working in Wyoming where there are only two humans per square mile (on average), nurse practitioner Mary Behrens, MS, FNP-BC, FAANP provides vital health care capacity to mainly rural populations. In this podcast she describes the role of the nurse practitioner, a discipline that is growing rapidly. She also discussed some of the ways a nurse practitioner can help reduce health disparities – from...

As a practicing orthopedic nurse, teacher, and the president of the New York chapter of the National Association of Orthopedic Nurses, Doreen Johnson, MSN, RN, ONC brings many years of experience to her patients, students and colleagues. In this episode of the Health Disparities Podcast she discusses the importance of work done by the Movement is Life Caucus and Steering Committee in developing re...