It’s not just the black-white issue. So, whether it’s discrimination or inequities that exist among LGBT youth and transgender [or] nonconforming people, or if it’s folks who are immigrants or women, a lot of that is contextualized under the umbrella of white supremacy within the country.
Q: And what are some of your priorities?
A large part of my work will be how I build the organizational capacity to better understand health equity. The reality in this country is folks aren’t comfortable talking about those issues. So, we have to destigmatize talking about all of this.
Q: Are there any particular populations or relationships that you plan to focus on?
The AMA excluded black physicians until the 1960s. So one question is: How do we work to heal relationships as well as understand the impact of our past actions? The AMA definitely issued an apology in the early 2000s, and my new role is also a step in the right direction. However, there is more that we can and should do.
Another priority now is: How do we work, and who do we work with, in our own backyard of Chicago? What can we do to work directly with people experiencing the greatest burden of disease? How do we ensure that we acknowledge the power, assets and expertise of communities so that we have the process and solutions driven and led by communities? To that end, we’ve begun working with West Side United via a relationship at Rush Medical Center. West Side United is a community-driven, collective neighborhood planning, implementation and investment effort geared toward optimizing economic well-being and improved health outcomes.
Q: Is there anything else you feel is important to understand about health equity?
Health equity and social determinants of health have become jargon. But we are talking about people’s lives. We were all born equal. We are clearly not all treated equal, but we all deserve equity. I don’t live outside of it, and none of us really do. I am one of those women who were three to four times more likely to die at childbirth because I’m black. So I don’t live outside of this experience. I’m talking about my own life.
Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.