To the Editor — Susan Moore was a well-regarded Black physician who contracted SARS-CoV-2 in 2020. During her hospitalization, Dr. Moore released a public video detailing concerns that she was receiving inequitable treatment for COVID-19, having her complaints of pain dismissed, and experiencing medical laxity from her hospital team1. Unfortunately, she was discharged home and eventually returned to a different emergency room 12 hours later, where she died from COVID-19. The pain mismanagement that Dr. Moore experienced is an example of the glaring treatment disparity experienced by Black patients2. Dr. Moore’s tragic death raised a heart-wrenching and disappointing thought among the authors of this Correspondence, all of whom are Black biomedical scientists and/or clinicians. If we cannot defend our own Black bodies, then what power do we truly have to push back against bias while defending our patients? The feeling that we are putting our lives on the line to still die disproportionately is a common sentiment among Black clinicians and trainees1. Dr. Moore’s story is a horrific reminder that despite our ability and efforts as clinicians and scientists to advocate for equitable healthcare, protection for our own Black bodies against unconscious bias, ignorance and racial bigotry is not guaranteed.

While the United States grappling with its systemic racism is framing the current social climate, the COVID-19 pandemic is accentuating racial disparities in healthcare. Therefore, it is imperative for the biomedical community to recognize the vulnerable position of Black women in medicine3. Chronic exposure to racism and unfair treatment contribute to physiological and psychological deterioration4, and Black women in science and healthcare must confront racism and sexism in society and at work. To bring visibility to the tangible impact that health inequity has on Black women in science and medicine, Eseosa Ighodaro (a physician-scientist and first author of this Correspondence) organized an online, public, expert panel discussion entitled ‘Tragedy: The Story of Dr. Susan Moore and Black Health Disparities’ (https://youtu.be/dkGkLVgDfnw)2. Panelists and audience members shared experiences unique to Black female clinicians and scientists from across a diverse span of career stages. This online event created opportunities for community building and social support among Black clinicians and scientists. Many participants shared stories about a family member or friend who fell victim to COVID-19 and health inequity.

With cultural competency training, a healthcare provider could have been able to consider the role of bias in pain management and respond appropriately to Dr. Moore’s symptoms5,6. Incorporating effective cultural and health-disparity competency training throughout all levels of healthcare training is essential. The training should include contextualization of the social determinants of health, along with knowledge of systemic factors that drive health disparities5,7. This would expand clinicians’ understanding of medicine as inextricably operating within a socio-ecological framework shaped by structural racism that directly impacts health outcomes.

Resources to protect Black trainees, physicians and scientists from everyday discrimination and structural racism must be embedded into training programs, as well as the workforce infrastructure of academic medical institutions. Working in an environment in which Black people feel they are experiencing unfair treatment and frequent discrimination can take a toll on their well-being and psychological health, as reported by medical trainees3,8. Our allostatic load, a multisystem index of biological dysregulation, is disproportionately greater than that of our white counterparts, in response to discrimination4. Interventions that address the specific burden of stress and anxiety experienced by under-represented healthcare providers and scientists, such as mindfulness and social support, could improve the wellness4,9 and retention of under-represented trainees. A deepened commitment to the inclusion of people of color in the field of medicine alone helps decrease health disparity10. The US National Institutes of Health has created an initiative, the Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation program, that is designed to create cultures of inclusive excellence at institutions funded by the US National Institutes of Health. This initiative is an example of a career-development program with a goal of getting academic institutions to hire cohorts of diverse people to decrease the attrition of Black professionals in academic medicine.

We understand that the solutions to eliminate health disparities and create an equitable workplace in biomedical sciences and healthcare are complex. Addressing barriers to equity at any single level of influence will not be enough fully to diminish health disparities. All stakeholders with an interest in advancing medicine and biomedical research must commit to prioritizing health equity. The medical community must also acknowledge that until Black professionals are represented at every level of decision-making in healthcare, biomedical research and medical education, the power to save every future Dr. Susan Moore lies just beyond reach. We will continue to say her name and shed light on racial inequalities in medicine.