The History of Health Inequity, Medical Discrimination, and the Changing Face of Medicine

Host: Gillian Mackay-Smith
Lecturer: Daniel Burje Chonde, M.D., Ph.D. 

From eugenics and unethical experimentation to treating normal behaviors as mental illnesses, to today's virtual two-tiered health care systems for the haves and have nots, our US healthcare system has left a lot to be desired when it comes to caring for the sick. This talk will discuss the missteps and prior trajectory of our medical system which has lead to broad swaths of the population who are medically underserved and face discrimination or poor access to care because of where they live, who they are, or their ability to pay. However, the doctors of today are not the same doctors of generations ago, with growing numbers coming from diverse and traditionally marginalized backgrounds. Through this new generation of doctors, we will look at what is being done to make amends, repair our broken system, and step into a future of health equity.