On Oct. 14, the NSU Shepard Broad College of Law will hold the Jay A. Ziskind Inaugural Health Law Lecture Series. This year’s lecture, titled “COVID-19 Has Devastated The Black Community. Here’s Why And What Needs To Change,” features a panel of presenters including Jefferson Shah as the primary speaker. Shah will present and discuss various topics revolving around bias and racism in the medical industry and clinical research.
The topics being presented will be based on Shah’s article posted on the Huffington Post on June 8. Shah is not only an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, but is also an NIH-trained allergist, immunologist and expert in both health policy and bioethics. The majority of Shah’s work focuses on health disparities, health policy and ethics influencing the topics being covered during the lecture. The current schedule of topics includes why Black Americans are twice as likely to know someone who has tested positive from COVID-19, ignorance and misconceptions in medicine and clinical research, how new legislation could have an impact on the inclusion of minorities in non-NIH funded research and a Q&A portion.
“I am really going to be talking about health disparities, how healthcare disparity on a system level has lead to the outcome that we are seeing today particularly with COVID-19 and people of color… Number two is to show how we can start to address things and hopefully make things better from a policy standpoint,” said Shah.
Shah explained how she sees particular importance in healthcare policy when it comes to racial injustice within the medical industry.
“There are policy mechanisms and regulatory mechanisms that can be taken to ensure those sort of outcomes that have not been taken yet and Highlight things we can do on the ground from a policy regulation standpoint to make things better for everyone,” she said.
In regards to the audience that should attend this lecture, Shah explained that these topics involve everyone, not just a specific group.
“What I am talking about impacts us all and I think it is easy for a lot of people to say ‘COVID-19 won’t impact me, disparate health outcomes won’t impact me,’ and in fact, it does. In the U.S., we have some of the worst health care outcomes worldwide for developed countries and part of the reason why is because we have such disparate healthcare,” she said.
The panel will also feature Board of the Governor member, Jay Ziskind, and professor Marilyn Uzdavines of the Shepard Broad College of Law.
The event will take place from 4-5:30 p.m., in person and over Zoom. The event is free and open to all students, faculty and alumni of NSU. It is asked that attendees RSVP for the event under the Shepard Broad College of Law section of the NSU website. More information on the event can be found on the Shepard Broad College of Law website or questions on the event can be directed to kr550@nova.edu.
