Health Equity

Methods Matter: Understanding and Measuring Race and Racism in Health Research

Penn LDI Conference

9:30a.m. – 4:15p.m. ET September 29, 2023 In-Person Event

University of Pennsylvania campus

Research is essential for understanding, quantifying, and eliminating disparities in health outcomes. While racism generates and maintains health inequities, there is less clarity and consensus about how racism can be measured and modeled in research, which holds profound implications for eliminating health disparities and improving population health. Join Penn LDI and the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics as we convene national experts across multiple disciplines to critically assess the state of the field with the ultimate goal of moving the science on the links between race, racism, and health forward.

In this one-day conference, we will 1) critically explore the current state of the field regarding known sources of structural and institutional racism and their links to health; 2) explore foundational theories to guide the study of race and racism in health and health care; 3) critically analyze current state-of-the-art research methods to measure, model, and interpret the links between racism and health; and 4) use case studies to apply these theories and methods to real-world scenarios.

Conference Agenda

9:30 a.m.

Breakfast/Registration

10:00 a.m.

Welcome and Opening Remarks

  • Courtney Boen, PhD, MPH
    Assistant Professor, Sociology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania
  • Rachel M. Werner, MD, PhD
    Executive Director, Penn LDI; Robert D. Eilers Professor, Health Care Management and Economics, The Wharton School; Professor, Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

10:15 a.m.

Q&A Panel

11:45 a.m.

Lunch and Networking

12:45 p.m.

Measuring Racial Disparities and Conditional Statistics

  • Aislinn Bohren, PhD
    Associate Professor, Economics, School of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania
  • Jackie Jahn, PhD, MPH
    Assistant Professor, Epidemiology, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University

2:00 p.m.

Measuring Structural Racism: A Case Study of Redlining

3:15 p.m.

Race in Clinical Prediction

  • Amaka Eneanya, MD, MPH
    Head of Strategy and Operations, Global Medical Office, Fresenius Medical Care
  • Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD 
    Assistant Professor, Medical Ethics and Health Policy and Director, Opportunity for Health Lab, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Conference Planning Committee