A recent study reveals alarming disparities in access to critical stroke treatments among different racial and ethnic groups in the United States. The research, published in the October 16, 2024, online issue of Neurology, highlights how social factors such as race, neighborhood, and insurance status significantly influence whether a stroke patient receives potentially life-saving care. The study, conducted by Dr. Chathurika Samudani Dhanasekara and colleagues at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, analyzed data from 139,852 stroke patients. They found that Black patients were 20% less likely to receive clot-busting drugs and 25% less likely to undergo thrombectomy compared to white…
Author: Disparity Matters
A new study examining 1.6 million childbirth hospitalizations in New Jersey reveals a troubling pattern in cesarean delivery rates among Black women. While Black patients with low-risk pregnancies were more likely than white patients to undergo cesarean sections, those with high-risk pregnancies were actually less likely to receive the procedure—even when clinical diagnoses indicated it was needed.Alecia McGregor, assistant professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the misalignment in care was most pronounced among Black patients aged 35 to 39. Despite medical conditions that typically warrant surgical delivery, these patients were less likely to receive cesareans than…
A new study reveals that artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, once hoped to eliminate human biases in medicine, may actually reinforce racial disparities in pain assessment. The research, led by Dr. Adam Rodman from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, exposes the flawed beliefs about race encoded in large language models (LLMs) used in healthcare settings. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, replicated a 2016 experiment that examined racial biases among medical trainees. Researchers applied a similar setup to two AI models, Google’s Gemini Pro and OpenAI’s GPT-4, comparing their pain assessments of Black and white patients to those made by human…
Investing $210+ million in scientific research on health inequities and expanding opportunities for underrepresented groups in science and medicine
When Dr. Bryant Lin was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, he hadn’t smoked a single puff in his life. His diagnosis — a form of “never-smoker” lung cancer — is linked to a gene mutation that disproportionately affects people of Asian descent, especially women. Lin, a Taiwanese-American physician and educator at Stanford Medicine, turned his personal crisis into a powerful teaching moment.He launched a course titled “From Diagnosis to Dialogue,” inviting students to witness his journey in real time. “In a way, this class is part of my letter — what I’m doing to give back to my community,”…
Starting EMBRACE Center to improve birthing outcomes for Black mothers and infants in Western Pennsylvania
Launching affordable healthcare initiative for Boston’s underserved residents
A recent study has revealed that Black women are significantly more likely to undergo unscheduled cesarean deliveries than white women, raising concerns about racial disparities in maternal care. The research, which analyzed nearly one million births across 68 hospitals in New Jersey, found that 21% of Black women with unscheduled deliveries had C-sections, compared to 17% of white women. Researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggest that the disparity may be driven more by provider preferences than medical necessity. “If Black mothers were truly better candidates for these unscheduled C-sections, we should see the gap persist, whether the…
Developing sensor to protect farmworkers from extreme heat
Despite being the fastest-growing racial group in the U.S., Asian Americans remain underrepresented in cardiovascular health research—and the consequences are becoming clear. A new scientific statement from the American Heart Association reveals that social and structural factors are driving significant disparities in heart health across Asian American communities.The report highlights that Asian Americans are often grouped together in health data, masking critical differences among ethnic subgroups. For example, Indian Americans have the highest rates of ischemic heart disease mortality, while Vietnamese Americans lead in cerebrovascular disease deaths. South Asians also show the highest prevalence of diabetes among Asian groups.“Social determinants…