Sources and consequences of structural racism, and steps forward

On Tuesday, April 4, three accomplished Black physicians and public health experts met in an online panel discussion on “Health Equity and Chronic Disease in People of Color,” sponsored by the Community Health Center Association of New York State. 

In a dynamic and unscripted conversation, Dr. Keith Ferdinand, Chair of Preventive Cardiology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Dr. Joseph Ravenell, Associate Professor of Population Health and Medicine at NYU School of Medicine, and Dr. Kenyani Davis, a preventive medicine physician and Chief Medical Officer at the Community Health Center of Buffalo, discussed the roots of structural racism and inequity in health care and the steps needed to reduce racial health disparities.

Topics included the need for health care personnel and leaders to reflect their patients, the importance of engaging and embracing community resources, the need for racial equity in education and research as well as direct health care, the importance of patient education and shared decision-making, the need to address the expectation of poor health and empower people to participate in their own care, and the need to “go upstream to tackle downstream outcomes.” 

“Discrimination extends from the cradle to the grave,” said Dr. Davis.   Dr. Ravenell identified community engagement in health care as a form of Black resistance.  And Dr. Ferdinand pointed out that everyone pays for unequal health care through increased costs and the loss of human capital when people die young unnecessarily.  Quoting the motto of the Association of Black Cardiologists, he said, “Children Should Know Their Grandparents.”

The panel was moderated by Dr. Daniel Miller, Senior Advisor at Sun River Health, which will be opening a community health center in New Rochelle later this year, and a member of New Rochelle Against Racism (New RoAR).  A recording of the conversation can be found here.