The funding will build on efforts to eliminate race-based medicine and barriers in access to health care
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded the American Academy of Pediatrics more than $1.7 million to support research in addressing health care disparities for children and adolescents.
The project, “Building a Race-Conscious Approach to Strengthening Pediatric Policy and Research,” will establish a scholars’ network to support those engaging in culturally effective, equity-focused research. The 2-year grant will foster a supportive ecosystem for health equity research and researchers.
“The AAP and its supporters are proud to lead the way toward achieving a vital goal – to ensure that each child receive equitable, affirming and anti-racist pediatric health care,” said Joseph Wright, MD, MPH, FAAP, chief health equity officer for AAP and lead author of the Academy’s policy statement, “Eliminating Race-Based Medicine.”
“This grant supports research that promises to improve the health of all families, by examining ways to make organizational changes that filter down to individuals seeking medical care. We believe that scholars from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences can be a powerful force in evaluating current systems and recommending improvements. Pediatricians who have been underrepresented in medicine will have opportunities for mentorship, sponsorship, training and networking during this process,” said Dr. Wright, the project's co-principal investigator.
This grant complements the work underway through funding from the Doris Duke Foundation to create a process for identifying and correcting race-normed clinical algorithms. Together, these grants form the cornerstone of the academy’s multi-year strategic initiative to affirm anti-racist care for all children.
The AAP will then leverage partnerships with nine other medical professional associations and engage medical institution leaders and journal editors to support the newly formed group of researchers, to be called the Pediatric Health Equity Scholars Network.
The organizations are committed to form a support system for health equity scholars and sustain a race-conscious approach to pediatric research and policy development. The organizations will draw on experiences they gained in forming the Women’s Wellbeing through Equity and Leadership (WEL) program for women in medicine.
“We are very pleased to take these steps toward achieving equity in healthcare,” said Janna Patterson, MD, MPH, FAAP, AAP senior vice president for Global Child Health and Life Support at AAP and the project's co-principal investigator. “Together, we envision improvements in the medical field that will benefit generations to come.”
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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.