Diversity, equity and inclusion in neurology

In this issue of Nature Reviews Neurology, we launch a Series to highlight the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in efforts to improve global brain health.

As the global burden of neurological disorders continues to grow¹, addressing health disparities in the field is becoming increasingly important. Efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the neurology community and in neurological care are central to addressing these disparities and thereby improving brain health at a local and a global level.

In this issue of Nature Reviews Neurology, we launch a new Series entitled ‘DEI in Neurology’ to bring attention to the disparities that need tackling and to highlight current initiatives and future priorities to address them. The Series will include reviews, commentary and discussion to explore disparities across all aspects of the field, from the workforce and research to patient care and outcomes, whether related to geography, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or other factors.

The Series starts with four articles in this issue, including two Reviews. In the first, Roy Hamilton explores the importance of racial and ethnic diversity among the neurology workforce for providing inclusive and equitable care to diverse populations. In the second, Morgan Prust and colleagues highlight disparities in the burden of stroke globally, comparing low-income and middle-income countries with high-income countries, as well as different populations within high-income countries. Alongside an in-depth exploration of the barriers faced, both articles provide strategic approaches that can be adopted by the field to overcome the presented issues.

With this Series, we also introduce to the journal Q&A articles, in which we interview individuals to gain personal insights. For the DEI in Neurology Series, we interview people who are driving DEI initiatives to address disparities in neurology. In this issue, stroke neurologist and director of the Stanford Global Health Neurology programme Nirali Vora talks about her work to set up the first stroke clinic in Zimbabwe, where stroke-related morbidity and mortality are high and the capacity of the neurological workforce is limited². She also highlights how the protocol that has been developed in Zimbabwe² is being applied in other low-resource settings.

Also in this issue is a News & Views, in which Maria Carrillo and Simin Mahinrad discuss the implications of recent findings that reveal racial differences in the correlation between cognition and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers for Alzheimer disease³. The study contributes to important research that explores the underlying causes of racial disparities in the disease.

“the team at Nature Reviews Neurology hopes to encourage and support important discussion of disparities in neurological health”

Through this Series, the team at Nature Reviews Neurology hopes to encourage and support important discussion of disparities in neurological health, and to promote outstanding examples of DEI research and initiatives that are progressing the field towards better global brain health.