The Science of Health Disparities Research. Группа авторов

Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD USA

      Adelaida Rosario Commissioned Corps Headquarters Office of the Surgeon General Rockville, MD USA

      Charles N. Rotimi Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health, National Human Genome Research Institute National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD USA

      Melanie D. Sabado‐Liwag National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD USA

      Mariana Sanchez Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work Florida International University Miami, FL USA

      Milda R. Saunders Department of Medicine The University of Chicago Chicago, IL USA

      Dean Schillinger Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine at Zuckerberg, San Francisco General Hospital University of California‐San Francisco San Francisco, CA USA; Center for Vulnerable Populations University of California‐San Francisco San Francisco, CA USA; Richard Fine People’s Clinic San Francisco, CA USA

      Daniel Shriner Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health, National Human Genome Research Institute National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD USA

      Sarah C. Stallings Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, TN USA; Meharry‐Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN USA

      Anita L. Stewart Institute for Health and Aging, Center for Aging in Diverse Communities University of California San Francisco, CA USA

      Andrea Williams Stubbs St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Memphis, TN USA

      Meryl Sufian National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD USA

Derrick C. Tabor National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD USA

      Sora Park Tanjasiri University of California Irvine, CA USA

      Claudia Toledo‐Corral Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA USA

      Hannah A. Valantine Scientific Workforce Diversity, Office of the Director National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD USA

      Elizabeth Vang Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA USA

      Salina P. Waddy Department of Neurology, Atlanta Veterans Administration Decatur, GA USA

      Nina Wallerstein College of Population Health University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM USA

      Joan Wasserman Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Bethesda, MD USA

      Kristina Weeks Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD USA

      Roy E. Weiss Miller School of Medicine University of Miami Miami, FL USA

      Marquitta White School of Medicine University of California San Francisco, CA USA

      Consuelo H. Wilkins Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, TN USA; Meharry‐Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN USA

      Kesi Williams National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD USA; Center for Research to Advance Community Health (REACH) UT Health San Antonio San Antonio, TX USA

Jessamine Winer‐Jones IBM Watson Health International Business Machines (IBM)Corporation Herndon, VA USA

      Cheryl A. Winkler Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research National Cancer Institute National Institutes of Health Frederick, MD USA

      Kent Woo NICOS Chinese Health Coalition San Francisco, CA USA

      Shumei Yun Resolve to Save Lives and Vital Strategies New York, NY USA

      Xingyou Zhang US Bureau of Labor Statistics Washington, DC USA

      Xinzhi Zhang Division of Clinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD USA

      Foreword

      January 10, 1992, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published within its Guide for Grants and Contracts, special instructions to applicants regarding implementation of new policies concerning the inclusion of women and minorities in clinical research study populations. Many of the senior authors of chapters in this seminal volume and I were among those who advocated strongly for this, then, new policy. It spoke to the under‐representation of racial and ethnic minorities in the science of the times, and strongly argued for closer attention to their inclusion in NIH‐sponsored research as a means of improving said science. The introductory chapter to this volume chronicles the circumstances that led to this policy change, as well as the ensuing response on the part of the NIH and Department of Health and Human Services to its implementation.

      Unfortunately, despite such a remarkable advance, the vigilance necessary to realize the promise embodied in this change waned. Indeed, as a long‐standing member of several established NIH study sections charged with determining the scientific merit of thousands of grant applications submitted for prospective funding, I witnessed firsthand the gradual attenuation of this policy of inclusion. Study sections struggled with its operationalization; we lacked carefully crafted examples of how adherence to this policy could be accomplished in a pragmatic fashion and thus improve our science. As a consequence, reviewers gradually drifted from a rigorous application of the policy to a pro forma determination of the adequacy of including under‐represented racial ethnic minorities, roughly equivalent to whether or not sampling plans assured their representation equal to that characteristic of the settings in which this work was to be conducted. One seldom read arguments, for example, for oversampling special populations in a manner that would truly test the hypotheses underpinning the proposed research, and thereby address race, ethnicity, or disadvantage as possibly important sources of variation in the phenomena under study.

      Again, numerous contributors to this volume who also served on NIH study sections shared this concern and lamented the absence of careful attention to the implications for the science. Understanding the original arguments for why, scientifically, such individuals should be included in the work sponsored by NIH gradually faded; inattention diluted the promise of this remarkable policy. Arguments for the inclusion of under‐represented racial and ethnic minorities and the disadvantaged in NIH‐sponsored research eventually shifted from the benefit to science to the underlying importance of health equity and social justice. While the latter are important motives for undertaking such work, they are, in my opinion, necessary, but not sufficient conditions for promoting knowledge acquisition and ensuring the scientific merit of such efforts.

One and one‐half decades later, the now National Academy of Medicine reviewed the NIH's strategic research plan to reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities. This assessment essentially focused on the impact of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities as of 2006, just prior to elevation to its current Institute status. In the Academy's report, the committee, of which several authors in this volume and I were members, concluded that the unfinished business of the Center and NIH was to revitalize a focus on the relevant science and to offer a coherent thematic framework for its pursuit. An emphasis on the social determinants of health emerged and gained increasing currency in anticipating and focusing this work. As the present volume amply demonstrates, this particular framework has played a critical role in organizing attention to the key domains and related constructs that bear importantly on the science underpinning minority health and health disparities research today.

      This volume, and its companion piece in the special issue of the American Journal of Public Health, provide a roadmap to guide the science in this area. The chapters contained herein illustrate the importance