Health Equity
Methods Matter: Understanding and Measuring Race and Racism in Health Research
Penn LDI Conference

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
- Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PhD
Dana and David Dornsife Dean, Distinguished University Professor of Epidemiology, Drexel University - Frank Edwards, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University Newark - Margaret Hicken, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan - Moderator: Elaine Hernandez, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Sociology, Indiana University Bloomington
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
- Michael Esposito, PhD
Assistant Professor, Sociology, Washington University in St. Louis - Nick Graetz, PhD, MPH
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Sociology, Princeton University
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
- Courtney Boen, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Sociology, School of Arts & Sciences - Paula Chatterjee, MD, MPH
Director, Health Equity Research, Penn LDI; Assistant Professor, Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine - Kaday Kamara
Policy Coordinator, Penn LDI - Enrique Schisterman, PhD
Perelman Professor, Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics and Chair, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics - Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine - 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