Racial inequities with breast cancer show disparity in care

Read this op-ed to learn how racial disparities fuel breast cancer mortality for Black women. Earlier this month a team of Florida State University researchers received a National Institutes of Health Director’s Transformative Research award worth $3.1 million to investigate racial inequities in the nation’s healthcare system. The project is expected to focus on the impact of racism in primary care that leads to significant health disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions. Associate Professor of Social Work Carrie Pettus said the approach will allow them to understand areas of bias within the health system from a wide variety of perspectives including patients, community members, health administrators, healthcare providers, and experts in the field. "What we're trying to do is move beyond just documenting racial bias and take action to implement solutions. We believe the most effective way to do this, based on prior research, is to have the stakeholders including the ones perpetuating bias to help generate the solutions," Pettus said. "That way they will be able to adopt policies and practices and sustain them moving forward."