Research to Action: Structural Racism as a Barrier to Health Equity

We now have abundant evidence that structural racism is a ubiquitous social force that shapes health in the United States. However, despite this growing recognition, structural racism and its influence on health outcomes have received insufficient research attention. The complexity of conducting research has been further compounded by decades in which the agenda has been set largely by a limited group of academic scholars, to the exclusion of community voices. The result is a failure to interrogate some of the core methodological assumptions that exclude essential information drawn from actual community contexts.

Research to Action: Structural Racism as a Barrier to Health Equity makes an important contribution by presenting different approaches to defining structural racism and closely examining the pathways through which structural racism creates health inequities-and then going further with concrete ideas for addressing and redressing this problem. It unpacks the assumptions that influence research methodology and mindsets and looks hard at the damage wrought by the criminal justice system, the structure of political systems, the distortions imposed by wealth disparities, the enduring impact of colonialism, the intertwined relationship between climate and health, and more. This type of research is deliberately cross-disciplinary, recognizing the imperative of considering common challenges through the lenses of better integrated and connected scholarship and practice to advance informed solutions. It is also partnered with and inclusive of the ideas and experiences of persons who experience marginalized conditions in their communities.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Alonzo L. Plough is the chief science officer and vice president of Research-Evaluation-Learning at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Plough has had a distinguished career in public health practice, academia, and philanthropy. His work focuses on improving health and well-being, and achieving health equity. Plough serves as a board member for many health and social welfare organizations.

Claire Gibbons, who joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2007, is a senior program officer dedicated to understanding and measuring key health and healthcare issues and analyzing programs that seek to improve the value of the nation's healthcare and public health systems.