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Closing the gaps

Nature volume 452, pages 382–383 (2008)Cite this article

US researchers are keen to find ways to address health disparities among minorities. Paul Smaglik reports.

It took Ala Stanford Frey 18 years of training to become a paediatric surgeon. It took a month of violence to get her involved in examining why ethnic minorities have more diseases and injuries than the majority population. Frey, one of only two female African American paediatric surgeons in the United States, was raised by a single mother in impoverished and crime-ridden North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She returned to Philadelphia in 2006, wanting to give something back to the community. She thought her contributions would come through surgery. Then the shootings escalated.

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  1. Paul Smaglik is a freelance writer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.,

    Paul Smaglik

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Beyond the glass ceiling

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National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities

Temple University Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities

Morehouse School of Medicine

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Smaglik, P. Closing the gaps. Nature 452, 382–383 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7185-382a

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