Medical racism, defined as racially motivated diagnoses and treatments that can cause medical harm, is caused by doctors' ideas and fantasies about racial differences that come from "racial/racist folklore." Historically, physicians and scientists have justified health inequities by claiming that there are genetic and biological differences between races, a notion that reinforces racial taxonomy and the myth of biological superiority. To this day, some physicians and medical students hold false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites and demonstrate racial bias in pain perception and treatment recommendations. To better understand medical racism, this thesis will highlight the long tradition of pseudo-scientific claims about biological differences in African Americans and explore racial folklore in various medical disorders from the twentieth century as evidence of medical malpractice. Furthermore, to achieve racial justice in medicine, leaders of organized medicine should require reparative health actions to address "racial/racist folklore" that has long been absorbed by some physicians and medical students in the 21st century. This thesis provides a plan for reparative health actions in pain relief, cardiology, dermatology, psychiatry, and gynecology and calls attention to the acknowledgment and understanding of the harms produced by medical racism.

Racial and ethnic disparities are pervasive throughout time and across care settings. Older adults of color using post-acute and long-term care (PA/LTC) experience a plethora of inequities in relation to access and the quality of care they receive. While PA/LTC policies have been implemented to improve quality, they may also have the consequence of exacerbating racial and ethnic disparities. The objective of this comprehensive literature review is to assess the consequences for PAC & LTC market-based reforms on equity, its effect on health care access, and the outcomes for older adults utilizing long-term supports & services (LTSS). After developing a search strategy and conducting the search using Ovid MEDLINE, 251 articles were generated. Titles and abstracts were screened for relevance based on the inclusion criteria: aging population, equitable outcomes, LTSS/LTC/PAC settings, and market-based reform/policy evaluation. An estimated 10-12 articles will be included for the full-text review and data extraction process. Currently, findings are mixed, some studies have found a reduction in racial differences whereas others have found an increase in disparities. We suspect that more research will be needed on policy and its impact on health care access & quality.

The endless rows of supplements at the drugstore can be overwhelming, and the average consumer has little to no knowledge to select the best for their needs. There are few publications exploring specific supplements, with many focusing only on the utilization of Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD) for research. We plan to explore gendered supplements, the accuracy for fulfilling nutritional requirements for their marketed demographic, and if they are using different marketing strategies with identical formulations. The examination of this topic is crucial to bringing more information for consumers to make decisions on supplements. By utilizing the DSLD and a set of key terms such as hers, her, women, his, him, and men, we identified and recorded on-the-market gendered supplements. Of the categories recorded, 71.8% of supplements marketed towards women were multivitamins. Conversely, of supplements marketed to men 72.5% were multivitamins. The remaining supplements were a mix of botanicals, herbal supplements and non-nutrient dietary supplements. With a solid foundation of more than 1,200 supplements, we will now focus on determining if there are differences in formulations of these gendered supplements and if these differences reflect physiological needs of females and males or are simply marketing tactics.

Community health workers (CHWs) are at the front-line of healthcare providing essential service for often underserved communities. Understanding the challenges that CHWs face will increase the attention to often overlooked areas of organizations such as healthcare providers and research teams. CHWs often lack resources and training that hinder their ability to effectively serve their communities. Little to no research has been conducted to address the needs of CHWs. In comparison to research that mitigates stress for other frontline workers such as nurses, and clinical providers, CHWs do not have appropriate protocols that help them cope with stressors. In collaboration with the University of Arizona and Campesinos Sin Fronteras, a community based organization located in Yuma Az, I will be conducting qualitative research. Campesinos Sin Fronteras is a non-profit organization that was founded by community health workers and provides vital health and resilience services for their communities. I plan on conducting interviews with community health workers from Campesinos. Creating a series of questions that target the potential needs that CHWs may have I will conduct interviews via zoom. I will record data from the interactions with the CHWs and create a template to pinpoint common trends that negatively impact the work of CHWs. I intend my research to start a conversation among CHWs and organizations in creating accessible resources for workers.