Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice

Speaker and audience.Health inequality, especially racial inequality in health, has been a topic of concern in medicine since the 1990s. While there is some acknowledgment of how racism operates in the clinical context, the racialization of the “evidence” that guides clinical practice has been largely ignored. The Race, Medicine, and Social Justice Research Cluster of the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice has been meeting regularly since 2014 to probe knowledge production and racism in medicine. The group identified and discussed many sites of racism in medicine over the last year: mental health for the under-insured; genetics, race, and health; black women’s maternity care; and algorithmic-based racism.  We also heard from medical students about the work they are doing to address racism in the medical curriculum.

Recent News

The Race, Medicine, and Social Justice Cluster reflects on a year of impactful scholarship and the profound loss of Dr. Lundy Braun. Co-led by Dr. Braun and Dr. Taneisha Wilson, the Cluster advanced critical work on racism in medicine and will continue to honor Dr. Braun’s legacy through ongoing events, research, and transformative public health advocacy.
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At Brown, Braun cofounded the program in science, technology, and society, and at the time of her retirement last year she was coleading the race, medicine, and social justice research cluster at the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice.
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“There was a transnational flow of medical knowledge about how disease spread that increased between 1756 and 1866 and transpired not only at familiar hubs of medical research but also at sites of imperialism, slavery, war, and dispossession.” (Downs, Maladies of Empire, p. 5)
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Current and Past Faculty, Researchers, and Fellows

Race, Medicine, and Social Justice Research Cluster Faculty Fellow (2021-present)

  • Taneisha Wilson

    Race, Medicine, and Social Justice Research Cluster Faculty Fellow; Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine; Attending Physician, Brown Emergency Medicine; Director, Equity Initiatives, Brown Emergency Medicine

Race, Medicine, and Social Justice Research Cluster Faculty Fellow (2016-2024)

  • Lundy Braun

    Race, Medicine, and Social Justice Research Cluster Faculty Fellow; Royce Family Professor in Teaching Excellence; Professor of Africana Studies and Medical Science

2020-2021

  • Nic John Ramos '17-'19

    Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Race and Medicine