Page 21 - Morehouse School of Medicine Magazine

RESEARCH

by race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomics The $40 million HHS award el responses, he said.
and other critical factors. will be led by Dr. Mack and Researchers will
Joining this effort is the CDC, which has Daniel E. Dawes, J.D., director also focus on such is-
granted MSM $540,000 to jointly estab- of the Satcher Health Leader- sues as equal access to
lish a Health Equity Task Force (HETF) ship Institute. COVID-19 pharmaceuti-
devoted to monitoring and assessing the “This powerful public-private cals remdesivir and dexa-
virus’s disparate impacts on vulnerable partnership comes at a critical methasone and comparing
populations. The HETF will help develop time,” Dr. Mack said. “Communities patient admissions to hospitals
standardized, evidence-based best practic- of color have been among the hardest hit. and intensive care units by race and
es to improve COVID-19 responses, data By working collaboratively at the commu- ethnicity.
collection, reporting, planning, mitigation nity level to advance health equity, we can Adm. Brett P. Giroir, M.D., assistant
strategies, screening, jurisdictional poli- make a meaningful difference in health U.S. secretary for health, told Congress
cies and responses, and contact tracing. outcomes.” in June that MSM will “be the brains
All of this will “create the opportunity to Dawes, an expert on health policy and behind the operation, to really extend
measure the effectiveness of interventions the social determinants of health, said our network.”
being deployed to mitigate the impact of “there are specific social determinants and MSM is right for the job, Dr. Gaglioti
COVID-19,” Dr. Montgomery Rice said. existing health disparities that contribute said.
“Those results should lead to a newfound to the spread of the novel coronavirus.” “You need trusted relationships with
knowledge base that will better prepare Such social determinants, he said, in- communities to get public health mes-
the country to respond to future pandem- clude working conditions, unemployment saging out and to develop public health
ics, especially in vulnerable communities.” and underemployment, access to clean outreach in a culturally humble way,” she
MSM’s national importance in the fight water, affordable housing, transportation said. “We are a source people trust.”
for health equity was hailed in Congress and quality health care. Those inequities
as the award was announced in late June. require both community- and systems-lev-

Morehouse School of Medicine 19

48397 MSM Magazine_r1.indd 19 12/23/20 2:07 PM