Research & Discovery > Researchers Turn Focus to Role of Systemic Racism in Health Disparities

Researchers Turn Focus to Role of Systemic Racism in Health Disparities

By Mayo Clinic Illustrations by Beth Goody

Much of the research on the health effects of racism has focused on interpersonal racism — racism expressed at an individual level.

However, Mayo Clinic researchers, along with colleagues from the University of Minnesota, are looking at racism more broadly. They are focused on reversing inequalities, as people of color in Minnesota experience some of the worst health disparities in the United States.

This framework will help scientists explore and measure how chronic exposure to racism, not race, influences health outcomes.
— Sean Phelan, Ph.D.

The Center for Chronic Disease Reduction and Equity Promotion Across Minnesota (C2DREAM), a partnership jointly led by Mayo and the University of Minnesota, aims to reduce cardiovascular health disparities in collaboration with Minnesota community leaders and community health organizations.

Mayo Clinic and University of Minnesota researchers recently published a paper in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science that provides a new framework describing how racism affects heart health among people of color in Minnesota. The C2DREAM framework examines how oppressive systems of power, structural and institutional racism, and interpersonal racism work together to influence the social determinants of health and health outcomes.

"This framework will help scientists explore and measure how chronic exposure to racism, not race, influences health outcomes," says Sean Phelan, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic health services researcher and senior author of the paper. "This will help enable researchers to design interventions that address the root causes of these disparities and improve heart health for people of color everywhere."

C2DREAM was launched in 2021 after receiving a five-year P50 funding grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

To learn more, visit Mayo Clinic News Network.