Run the List dedicates this episode to George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others that have been tragically lost due to structural racism within our society.

In this important episode, Dr. Navin Kumar talks with Dr. Utibe Essien, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a researcher who dedicates much of his time to racial and ethnic health disparities. In it, Dr. Essien educates us on the discipline of health disparities, talking about its early history from 1899 through today, and advocates for its place in medical school curricula, as social determinants of health are a critical piece of disease pathophysiology. The two touch on the social structures that drive disease admissions and presentations, using COVID-19 as a prominent example of the social inequities that exist within our society. Moreover, they discuss structural racism and how we as a medical community can step up to respond and make an impact. We can’t go on as "business-as-usual” and Dr. Essien provides us with practical short-term and long-term steps to take in order to take better care of our patients and one another.