On April 8, the Stern Healthcare Association had the good fortune of hosting Dr. Joseph Ravenell, the Associate Dean of Diversity Affairs and Inclusion at NYU Langone Health. Dr. Ravenell led a discussion on how this pandemic has hit lower socioeconomic neighborhoods with a higher disease burden and mortality rate than more privileged neighborhoods.
Racism has been with us for centuries, and long-standing social disparities go back throughout the history of the U.S. Any group seen as different from the dominant group in this country has often been seen as a threat and discriminated against. This was made more evident during the pandemic, which can be seen both from health outcomes and the social unrest arising from blatant systemic racism. …