Medical Experts & Research

Black medical residents face a higher rate of dismissal from residency programs compared to their white counterparts nationwide. These systemic issues in medical education and the healthcare system further threaten the need for more Black doctors. Even worse, Black aspirants endure emotional and financial hardship, often derailing their medical careers just short of completing a grueling obstacle course of educational achievements. An article in a leading medical journal outl

Nikita Wright , Georgia State University When a woman finds a lump in her breast, her doctor’s first move is usually to recommend a biopsy – that is, to remove a small portion of the lump for analysis. If the lump is cancerous, doctors test for three different clinical markers : estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor. The results determine what kind of hormone or growth factor receptor treatment the patient receives. About 15-20 pe

Renã A.S. Robinson , Vanderbilt University Blacks are at higher risk for several health conditions in the U.S. This is true for heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and stroke, which are often chronic diseases. And it is also for Alzheimer’s disease, in which blacks have two times higher incidence rates than whites. So, why do these disparities exist, especially in Alzheimer’s disease, which isn’t typically considered a chronic disease but a progressive one, or one t

Sharona Hoffman , Case Western Reserve University Artificial intelligence holds great promise for improving human health by helping doctors make accurate diagnoses and treatment decisions. It can also lead to discrimination that can harm minorities, women and economically disadvantaged people. The question is, when health care algorithms discriminate, what recourse do people have? A prominent example of this kind of discrimination is an algorithm used to refer chronically ill

April Thames , USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Negative social attitudes, such as racism and discrimination, damage the health of those who are targeted by triggering a cascade of aberrant biological responses, including abnormal gene activity. It is not surprising that reports documenting lifespan and causes of mortality have demonstrated a clear pattern: African Americans die sooner and bear a heavier burden of many diseases, including hypertension, hear