Elizabeth Thom, a research professor and the former head of the Biostatistics Center, saved the lives of “countless” mothers and newborns through her research.
Jacque Smith and Cassie Spodak, CNN, April 27, 2021
When she first learned about race correction, Naomi Nkinsi was one of five Black medical students in her class at the University of Washington.
Nkinsi remembers the professor talking about an equation doctors use to measure kidney function. The professor said eGFR equations adjust for several variables, including the patient’s age, sex and race. When it comes to race, doctors have only two options: Black or “Other.”
Nkinsi was dumbfounded.
“It was really shocking to me,” says Nkinsi, now a third-year medical and masters of public health student, “to come into school and see that not only is there interpersonal racism between patients and physicians … there’s actually racism built into the very algorithms that we use.”
Can a formula be racist? She says one put her health at risk 08:03
The argument over race correction has raised questions about the scientific data doctors rely on to treat people of color. It s attracted the attention of Congress and led to a big lawsuit against the NFL.
What happens next could affect how millions of Americans are treated.
Medicine has never been immune to racism
Carolyn Roberts, a historian of medicine and science at Yale University, says slavery and the American medical system were in a codependent relationship for much of the 19th century and well into the 20th.
Upcoming SMFM Meeting Will Highlight Disparities, COVID-19 medscape.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medscape.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Scientific American
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Pregnant women have historically been excluded from the majority of medical research under the justification of protecting these women and their pregnancies from harm. But when new treatments are not tested in this population, we cannot know whether those treatments are safe and effective.
People who are sick or have chronic conditions can become pregnant, and those who are pregnant can get sick or develop health conditions. More than 90 percent of women take at least one medicine during pregnancy, and a significant portion are given recommended vaccines: the flu shot and Tdap, both of which protect not only the recipient but their family as well.