Unmasking Inequality in Healthcare: A Call to Action from Boston’s 2024 STATUS List

In Boston on Wednesday night, a group of physicians, researchers, CEOs, reporters and more gathered to celebrate the 2024 STATUS List. This list features 50 leaders in the life sciences, who spoke about the issues that need to be prioritized in order to improve healthcare outcomes across the U.S. and around the world.

One of the key areas that were highlighted was equity and inclusion. Jonathan Jackson, executive director of Community Access, Recruitment, and Engagement Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School emphasized the need for researchers to divest their institutions from marginalized populations in order to prioritize their needs. He criticized the tendency for researchers and advocates to offer similar solutions to institutions that do not prioritize these populations.

Similarly, Stuart Orkin, a professor at Harvard Medical School pointed out the underinvestment in sickle cell research by powerful institutions such as the National Institutes of Health and the pharmaceutical industry for decades. He has unintentionally become an equity spokesperson after his research provided the blueprint for Vertex’s gene therapy for sickle cell disease which disproportionately affects Black individuals. These discussions underscored the importance of addressing equity and inclusion in medical science to improve healthcare outcomes globally.