Dr. Choo’s McGovern Lecture: Article Links

Posted by Margot M on September 14th, 2020 Posted in: MLA
Tags: health disparities, professional development

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The Medical Library Association invited Esther Choo, MD, to give the McGovern Lecture in 2020. Dr. Choo is a Portland-area emergency room physician. After the Portland conference was postponed, Dr. Choo made the shift to the vConference with ease. If you have access, this lecture is well worth your time!

In 2017, Dr. Choo was featured in a column in The Oregonian, “Portland Doctor Esther Choo Responds to Racism in the Emergency Room”. Reporter Samantha Swindler tells us that Dr. Choo’s tweets about prejudice in the emergency room receive thousands of retweets.

“Choo’s posts about being refused by patients resonated with physicians of color who shared their own experiences with her in public and private messages.”

Healthcare Inequities Exacerbated by COVID-19

For the McGovern Lecture, Dr. Choo lay open the racial disparities in exposure, treatment and clinical outcomes for COVID-19. Her excellent lecture included references to these articles. A huge shout-out to Maggie Ansell, Nursing and Consumer Health Liaison Librarian at the University of Florida, Gainesville  (@meansell) for live tweeting the links.

• Race Gaps in COVID-19 are Even Bigger Than They Appear 
• Color of Coronavirus: COVID-19 Deaths by Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.
• Disparities in Outcomes Among COVID-19 Patients in a Large Health Care System in California
• Utilization of COVID-19 Treatments and Clinical Outcomes Among Patients with Cancer
• Black Workers Face Two of the Most Lethal Preexisting Conditions for Coronavirus: Racism and Economic Inequality
• Data and Measurement Issues in the Analysis of Health Disparities

Dr. Choo urged us to move beyond research that, as a mentor said to her, “admires the problem.” We need to move toward action if we hope to take corrective measures in disease prevention and management.