Faculty, residents, trainees and students from Feinberg and beyond recently came together for Health Equity Week, a weeklong series of educational programming designed to expose the roots of healthcare inequities and actions to take to address them.
Hosted by the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, this year marked the fifth Health Equity Week and featured presentations from healthcare leaders from around the country.
“We know that Health Equity Week is more than just learning. It’s about action. It’s about challenging ourselves to recognize and dismantle barriers that keep healthcare from truly being accessible and inclusive for all communities,” said Uchenna Pelzer, MD, senior director of learning culture at Northwestern’s McGaw Medical Center, who welcomed attendees to the week of programming.
The event, held February 24-28, featured several virtual sessions and an in-person keynote address.
“Health Equity Week 2025 was timely and of considerable relevance in today’s world. The week sourced truth and explored not only the persistence of health inequities but also root causes. These issues don’t go away by pen stroke. And as we should in a leading academic medical center, we host difficult discussion, because it is how we learn,” said Clyde Yancy, MD, MSc, chief and Magerstadt Professor of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine, vice dean for Health Equity at Feinberg, and leader of Feinberg’s Office of Health Equity.
Sessions throughout the week focused on topics ranging from reproductive healthcare access to advancing health equity for Asian Americans.
Nilay Shah, ‘14 MD, ‘14 MPH, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology and of Preventive Medicine in the Division of Epidemiology, highlighted the need for more specific identity categories for Asian Americans in medical research.
“It used to be that when we took surveys and when we did research, we as a collective really only offered an individual category of ‘Asian.’ What we’re learning is that really just not a descriptive enough identification to reflect the diversity of the Asian American population,” Shah said.
In another session, investigators spoke on the importance of community partnerships when conducting research.
“Before you can have community research, you must have community partnerships,” said Jen Brown, MPH, director of the Alliance for Research with Chicagoland Communities. “Before you can have partnerships, you must have relationships. Our community partners know that researchers would never start a research project without doing a literature review. But they say that researchers will often approach them without taking the time to do any kind of community review or preparing to partner, not just preparing to do research.”
This year’s keynote address was delivered by David A. Ansell, MD, MPH, senior vice president for community health equity for Rush University Medical Center. Ansell was introduced by Oluwateniola Brown, MD, ‘18 GME, assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery, and a founding organizer of Health Equity Week.
“Health Equity Week reminds us that our north star as entities that provide healthcare must be ensuring all individuals, regardless of background or identity, have a fair chance at optimal health,” Brown said. “We hope this week sparks inspiration and action, empowering participants to disrupt inequitable systems and drive lasting change across our institution and communities.”
Organizers thanked attendees for their continued participation in Health Equity Week and their commitment to providing high-quality, equitable care.
“I think this is probably one of my most anticipated weeks of the year because we bring together so many thought leaders,” said Linda Suleiman, MD, ‘17 GME, associate dean for Health Equity, associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and of Medical Education, and a founding organizer of Health Equity Week. “Everyone ends up feeling inspired at the end of the week, not just to think about things, but really to implement and take action to advance health equity.”