By Michelle Medeiros, Hillary Edwards, Claudia Baquet. COVID-19 data, where are the holes and what does this mean for Long COVID? As the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic progresses, the impact of persistent, long-term respiratory, functional, and psychological comorbidities becomes more evident in the general population, and particularly within Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities. Black, Indigenous, and […]
Category: Race
Thinking critically about race and ethnicity in biomedical research
By Bradley Kawano. As a senior at Occidental College, I had the privilege to hear Rev. William Barber deliver a speech on race and the political divide in the U.S. Speaking about our politics, he asserted that we could not avoid the problem of race. Instead, we must confront it head-on. In science, we face […]
How to ethically conduct research with Black populations at the intersection of COVID-19 and Black lives matter
By Natasha Crooks, Geri Donenberg, Alicia Matthews. For months now, we have been asking ourselves if it is appropriate to engage populations in research who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and continuously being murdered by institutions (i.e., government, police, hospitals) that are supposed to be protecting them. The current societal context suggests Black lives are […]
Research on COVID-19’s long term effects: Ensuring Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities are not left behind
By Michelle Medeiros, Hillary Edwards and Claudia Baquet. Possible long-term effects of COVID-19: As we continue to learn more about SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), there is emerging evidence on long-term impacts. Recent publications identified long-term effects including, but not limited to, fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, headache, chest, muscle and joint pain, fast or pounding heartbeat, loss […]
Apology, exposing the past key to black Americans embracing COVID-19 vaccines, American medicine?
By Doug Wojcieszak. Recent racial unrest has made many Americans — including the medical community — reflect on our nation’s racial history. The pandemic and our hopes for the COVID-19 vaccines, however, should make the medical community reflect deeper on the history of Black Americans and American medicine and how the future can be different. […]
ICU triage: How many lives or whose lives?
By Angela Ballantyne Bioethicists around the world have been asked to advise on the goals and methods of triage protocols. Estimates suggest 5% of COVID19 cases will require ICU care. The key ethical tension is between utility and equity. There are other relevant principles of fair allocation such as reciprocity for frontline workers who have […]
Dissipating historical medical inequity through decolonising healthcare education
By Amali U. Lokugamage Decolonisation is an effort to ‘turn tables’ on the enduring inequities established by colonial rule. It is also about dismantling unfair power imbalances in society. The three authors of the article ‘Decolonising ideas of healing in medical education’ originate from Sri Lanka, an ex-colonial country, but live in the UK. In […]