Honoree Panel Discussion
Post Awards Panel Discussion: Racial Inequity in Health Care and Health Outcomes
SPONSORED BY:
COVID-19 has unmasked and magnified long-standing underlying health disparities, many of which are based on race. Given the expertise and dedication of its awardees, NEHI was grateful to be able to host a panel discussion on the role of innovation in the promotion of health equity.
Michelle McMurry-Heath, MD, PhD, President & CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, was an outstanding panel moderator. She has dedicated her career to broadening access to scientific progress so more patients from diverse backgrounds can benefit from cutting-edge innovation. She emphasized that we must ensure that innovations address the needs of the individuals they are intended to benefit.
Our honorees discussed innovations on the horizon that give them confidence in their ability to reduce health disparities. They highlighted the role that issues of trust and understanding of science play and the necessary steps to overcoming this problem when promoting access to such innovations, especially within Black and Brown communities.
We are deeply grateful for the robust discussion we were able to have, and, more for the work our honorees are doing to promote innovations that make a difference for those who have inadequate access to care and treatment.

MICHELLE MCMURRY-HEATH, MD, PhD
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)
Dr. McMurry-Heath has dedicated her career to broadening access to scientific progress so more patients from diverse backgrounds can benefit from the cutting-edge innovation that we are celebrating here today. Driven by her own past family experiences navigating clinical trials and funding uncertainties within the rare disease community, McMurry-Heath calls “the distribution of scientific progress the social justice issue of our age.”