Award Lecture: “Structural Racism in Law and Medicine: The Root Cause of Health Inequities”

On February 24th, the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law Center for Law and Health will proudly present the McDonald-Merrill-Ketcham Award to Professor Ruqaiijah Yearby. Yearby will discuss how structural racism in law and medicine are associated with racial and ethnic minority individuals’ health inequities and discuss how the adoption of the Health Justice framework can be used to eradicate racism and redress the harm.

This is an in-person only event and will not be live streamed.

Presentation Description: Since the formation of the United States to the present day, structural racism in law and medicine has limited racial and ethnic minority individuals’ ability to be healthy. Structural racism is both the limitation of racial and ethnic minority individuals’ access to resources as well as the way social and economic conditions are organized to advantage White individuals and disadvantage racial and ethnic minority individuals. Law is one of the tools used to limit racial and ethnic minority individuals’ resources as well as organize social and economic conditions in a racially discriminatory way, which has been associated with racial and ethnic minority individuals’ health inequities. These conditions are justified by structural racism in medicine, which continues to maintain the false idea that White individuals are biological superior to racial and ethnic minority individuals. During my talk, I will discuss how structural racism in law and medicine are associated with racial and ethnic minority individuals’ health inequities and discuss how the adoption of the Health Justice framework can be used to eradicate racism and redress the harm.