This week, The Hastings Center and the Association of American Medical Colleges Center for Health Justice convened a two-day health equity summit called “Righting the Wrongs: Tackling Health Inequities.” Co-sponsors included the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, and the American Hospital Association. Approximately 2,500 people attended remotely.
Day one, January 19, focused on historical events and decisions that have led to major inequities in health today. It was designed for the general public, health professionals, researchers, and policymakers. It included talks by Isabel Wilkerson about caste in the U.S., Richard Rothstein on myths Americans have used to rationalize the profound residential segregation throughout the nation, and David Williams on segregation as a driver of differences in income and education and how these racial inequities matter for life and health.
Day two was focused on solutions, offering examples of promising strategies that policymakers, researchers, and health care leaders can employ to address inequities through policy, clinical care, medical education, research, and community collaborations. Keynote speaker Daniel Dawes said that while progress has been made in recognizing the social determinants that contribute to health disparities, we now must look upstream to the political determinants that drive the social factors that hinder health equity. Following Dawes’s talk were sessions on health equity policy and practice for physicians, nurses, public health experts, and health educators. Read more about the Health Equity Summit.
Another Pig-to-Human Organ Transplant, More Questions
In the latest of several recent pig-to-human organ transplant experiments, surgeons in Alabama transplanted a pig’s kidneys into a brain-dead donor, a procedure the surgeons hope to try in living patients as soon as this year. Hastings Center research scholar Karen Maschke told the Associated Press that hurdles remain before formal testing in humans can begin, including deciding who would qualify to test a pig organ. Read the AP article.
“There are a lot of questions that need answering before the FDA could approve a clinical trial” for transplanting pig organs into humans, Maschke told The Lancet in an interview. “How long can we expect the organ recipient to live? What is their quality of life? What mechanisms lead to failure? What are the risks of zoonotic disease transmission?” The Lancet also described a National Institutes of Health-funded project that Maschke is co-leading (with Hastings research scholar Michael Gusmano and Elisa Gordon of Northwestern) to develop an ethical and policy framework for clinical trials involving xenotransplantation (animal-to-human organ transplants). Read the Lancet article. (Free registration is required.)
In an essay in Hastings Bioethics Forum, ethicist L. Syd Johnson discussed three reasons for caution before authorizing xenotransplantation trials: “the potential to spread pathogens, exploitation of human research participants, and animal welfare.” Read the essay.
Upcoming Events
"Civics Education as a National Security Priority." Hastings Center president Mildred Solomon will join the Commonwealth Club of California in an online discussion. January 24.
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