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An important piece of the fabric that makes BWH’s community unique is its focus on diversity. President Gary Gottlieb has made this a priority with the BWH leadership team. On Thursday, October 6, Gottlieb participated in a Diversity Town Forum at Harvard Medical School (HMS) in an effort to increase awareness of this issue.
Gottlieb focused his remarks on the need for a diverse workforce of health care professionals and the relationship between diversity and the goal of eliminating racial disparities in health outcomes.
As co-chair of Mayor Menino’s Task Force to Eliminate Health Disparities, Gottlieb spoke about racial disparities in Boston across multiple diseases including asthma, diabetes and heart disease, as well as infant mortality. He specifically explained that these disparities persist across minority populations regardless of the level of education and household income. Gottlieb said, “Differences in health care services, diagnostic testing and treatment, and understanding health behaviors empathically impact health outcomes for minorities.”
“Moving forward, we need to continually promote diversity in our workforce and leadership and target initiatives to eliminate disparities in health outcomes for all populations,” said Gottlieb.