As a historian, Tufts Professor Kendra Field is dedicated to making African American history more accessible to the public. In her latest project in public history, Field is chief historian of 10 Million Names, a recently launched research project of American Ancestors, the oldest genealogical organization in the nation.
A first-of-its-kind analysis of historical DNA ties tens of thousands of living people to enslaved and free African Americans who labored at an iron forge in Maryland known as Catoctin Furnace soon after the founding of the United States.
The study, spurred by groups seeking to restore ancestry knowledge to African American communities, provides a new way to complement genealogical, historical, bioarchaeological, and biochemical efforts to reconstruct the life histories of people omitted from written records and identify their present-day relatives.
Members of minoritized racial or ethnic groups and people who live in less affluent neighborhoods are less likely than others to receive specialized care for dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates.
Black people and people living in less affluent neighborhoods—areas with higher poverty levels and fewer educational and employment opportunities— may be less likely to be seen at a memory care clinic compared to white people and people living in neighborhoods with fewer disadvantages, according to new research published in the August 2, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Cancer research centers conducting clinical trials could enroll more patients from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups by placing greater emphasis on relieving investigators of the costs of translating consent documents into languages other than English, according to a UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center study.
An international team of researchers has found a genetic variant that may explain why some people of African ancestry have naturally lower viral loads of HIV, reducing their risk of transmitting the virus and slowing progress of their own illness.
When assessing the skills and competencies or “human capital” of long-term care registered nurses in the United States, studies often focus solely on years of experience and traditional educational backgrounds.
It’s easy to imagine that growing up in a neighborhood with safe and clean parks, little to no discrimination, and where people are not struggling financially makes for a lower-stress childhood.
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an approach that connects academic researchers with community partners to inform project development. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators explores CBPR implementation in a project on criminal justice reform in Cincinnati.
Cornell researchers have shown that data science and artificial intelligence tools can successfully identify when prosecutors question potential jurors differently, in an effort to prevent women and Black people from serving on juries.
The study finds utilization of annual screening mammograms suboptimal among low-income Black women with several reported perceived and actual barriers. Most had a low breast cancer risk perception. Interestingly, participants perceived mammograms as very beneficial: 80 percent believed that ‘if breast cancer is found early, it’s likely that the cancer can be successfully treated;’ 90 percent indicated that ‘having a mammogram could help find breast cancer when it is first getting started.’
“We’re situated in a unique position to address the growing cancer burden among the Hispanic community,” said Dr. Lakshmanaswamy, a biomedical science professor who directs the university’s Center of Emphasis in Cancer. “Our goal is to improve access to health care for our Hispanic community members by developing novel biomarkers and therapeutics, grounded in an improved understanding of the biological, cultural and behavioral determinants of cancer."
A first-of-its kind drug for prostate cancer, an ancient retrovirus that may drive aggressive brain cancer, disparities in endometrial cancer rates among Black women, a new trial seeking answers for higher rates of aggressive prostate and breast cancer in Black men and women, and more are in this month’s tip sheet from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Race/ethnicity is not an independent predictor of hospital readmission in patients undergoing breast reconstruction surgery, reports a study in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
Roughly six million Black people moved away from the American South during the Great Migration between 1910 and 1970, hoping to escape racial violence and discrimination while pursuing economic and educational opportunities. Now, research has uncovered a link between this historic event with present-day inequalities and implicit biases.
A genetic analysis suggests that the servants and retainers who lived, worked, and died at Machu Picchu, the renowned 15th century Inca palace in southern Peru, were a diverse community representing many different ethnic groups from across the Inca empire.
The United States has more than 10 times the number of mass shooting incidents than other developed countries, yet little research has shown the distribution and types of shootings, geographically.
The study of delays in diagnoses of rare diseases from Katie Corcoran, a sociologist in the West Virginia University Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, will evaluate the impact of patients’ race and gender and whether physicians share large numbers of patients.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will help lead and launch the first clinical trial focusing on women and minority populations to determine which coronary revascularization procedure best improves their survival and quality of life.
In a special forthcoming issue of the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, a journal of the American Counseling Association (ACA), counseling and education researchers describe the distinct educational, vocational, psychological, social and health challenges that many Black men and boys face due to systemic racism and discrimination.
In the largest study of its kind, researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) used electronic health record (EHR) data from more than 200,000 pediatric patients to describe patterns of pediatric allergies across the United States, validating a population-level pattern of allergy development known as the “allergic march,” in which allergies first present as eczema, followed by food allergies, asthma, and environmental allergies. The researchers also found that a rare food allergy called eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), which has historically been considered a disease affecting primarily White males, is more common among non-White patients than previously reported.
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In the last 10 years, police organizations have displayed unprecedented support for Republican presidential candidates and have organized against social movements focused on addressing racial disparities in police contact.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is leading an awareness campaign that aims to reduce missed or delayed diagnosis of cystic fibrosis after newborn screening, especially in non-White infants. In its first phase, the campaign targets primary care providers and public health officials, so that treatment can start earlier, which is linked to better outcomes for people with cystic fibrosis. The general public phase is expected to follow within the year.
In a new study, University of Utah Health researchers have shown that a particular version of a gene may contribute to the higher severity of stroke seen among Black Americans. The findings could help scientists develop more effective stroke medications for people who carry the gene.
إن الاعتقاد السائد بأن الأشخاص ذوي البشرة الداكنة محصنون ضد الورم الميلانيني، وهو نوع من أنواع سرطان الجلد، هو خرافة ترسخت على مدار عدة سنوات. وهو مفهوم خاطئ وخطير والذي أدى بالأشخاص إلى عدم بذلهم الجهد اللازم لحماية أنفسهم من الأشعة فوق البنفسجية الضارة.
Approximately 600 sessions featuring over 3,000 research papers are open to the press. From race and racism to mental health, from climate control and environmental policy issues to artificial intelligence, sociologists are investigating and reporting on the most sensitive problems confronting American society.
Using data from diverse populations around the world, researchers have developed an algorithm to help predict the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease based on genetic information in patients with a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. While additional ethnicities should be included in future studies, this work aims to eliminate disparities in diagnosis of the disease.
A new study from researchers at the American Cancer Society found that Black cancer survivors in the United States experience a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared with White cancer survivors.
A new study conducted by researchers at the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity at the George Washington University (GW) Milken Institute School of Public Health, and the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) identifies institutional characteristics associated with public health student diversity, including faculty diversity. The research, covering a five-year time period from 2016-2020, shows that - despite an upward trend in diversity in the public health educational pipeline - minority students remain underrepresented.
Las personas que pertenecen a grupos minoritarios raciales y étnicos tienen menos probabilidades de recibir atención médica mental que las personas blancas. La Dra. Anna Solt, psiquiatra de Cedars-Sinai, comentó que el limitado acceso a la atención de la salud mental, los estigmas culturales e incluso las creencias estereotipadas dentro de una cultura pueden causar barreras para el tratamiento de la salud mental.
A Wayne State University School of Medicine professor has received a $3 million award from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health to develop an intervention aimed at improving health outcomes in Black youth with type 1 diabetes.
The landmark United States Supreme Court ruling in Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia abolished bans on interracial marriage in the United States in 1967, but a new academic paper from Rice University and Texas A&M University said an uptick in interracial relationships since then has not ended discriminatory tendencies, even among individuals who are in these romantic partnerships.
The research underscores the limitations of the health care system’s frequent reliance on broad self-reported race and ethnicity data to assess patients’ risk of developing disease, and the findings also support expanding genetic screening to more groups.
MedStar Washington Hospital Center is the most socially responsible hospital in Washington, D.C. and is among the top in the nation, according to the Lown Institute. The 2023-24 Lown Institute Hospitals Index evaluated more than 3,600 hospitals nationwide, and MedStar Washington ranked #1 in D.C. and is among 54 U.S. hospitals to earn Honor Roll status with “A” grades in all top categories: Social Responsibility, Health Equity, Value of Care, and Patient Outcomes. It also named MedStar Washington the most racially inclusive hospital in the District.
New research has shown that having positive contact with people from diverse groups can reduce the development of harmful intergroup conspiracy beliefs.
High rates of smoking among people with HIV are associated with high rates of comorbid health problems – which are associated with characteristics including gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, according to a study in the July issue of The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (JANAC). The official journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, JANAC is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
Chicago health systems RUSH and UChicago Medicine are making available a free self-assessment tool that uses a race-conscious approach to help hospitals benchmark health equity efforts for all patients. Created after the COVID 19 pandemic revealed disproportionate racial and ethnic mortality rates, the effort is supported by a Commonwealth Fund grant and was piloted at hospitals across Illinois.
Skin lightening is prevalent in the U.S. among skin of color individuals – particularly women – but the people who use those products don’t know the risks, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality in women and the primary cause of cancer death among Hispanic women, according to the National Cancer Institute. The Center of Emphasis in Cancer focuses on forms of the disease prevalent in our majority-Hispanic Borderplex, seeking new strategies for the prevention and treatment of the deadly disease.