VIDEO: ‘We all need to be concerned’ about consequences of inequity in health care
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In a video exclusive, Healio’s Health Equity Award winner Folasade P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, discusses the importance of a collective, nationwide effort to recognize health care disparities and support disadvantaged populations.
“Many of us are working in strong collaborations across the country — across the world — to try to understand why certain populations of people are more susceptible to disease [and] poor disease outcomes,” May, associate professor of medicine and director of the Melvin and Bren Simon Gastroenterology Quality Improvement Program at UCLA Health, told Healio. “And not only just understanding the why, but also coming up with interventions to close those gaps.”
At the May Lab at UCLA Health, May guides research on health equity projects and quality improvement not only in the university’s health care system but also in Veterans Affairs and federally qualified health centers across Los Angeles and cities nationwide, seeking to understand why some facilities lack services like colorectal cancer screening and to develop targeted interventions and patient education.
Although May noted there has been an “explosion of attention to health equity” in recent years, she expressed concern that some of that focus has shifted, making it even more important to continue moving research forward.
“We’re trying to make sure that everyone recognizes that not all of us are equally advantaged towards the maximum possible health,” May said. “There are certain populations of people that are going to need additional interventions and supports to reach achieve the highest health possible.”
She added, “If we don’t focus on that, our average health as a nation declines and when our average health as a nation declines, there are effects on our social economics, on our politics, on our economies, on our life expectancy; these are problems we all need to be concerned with.”
The 2024 Heath Equity award winner will be announced in October during the Healio Disruptive Innovators ceremony at the ACG annual meeting in Philadelphia.
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