A Duke Physician addresses “Racism is a Public Health Crisis” – Martin Center for Academic Renewal

The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal published an article by Dr. Kendall Conger, a physician at Duke Health, that challenges the narratives on implicit bias and anti-racism that the organization included in a 2021 pledge to Duke Health employees.

Their fundamental reason for writing the pledge, and its fundamental claim, was that “racism is a public health crisis.” That had not been my experience, nor did it fit my observations, so I asked to see the clinical data the authors had used to form this conclusion. After much back and forth, I received the following reply from a Duke Health senior administrator: “I concede that I cannot find a [clinical] trial that proves implicit bias is the cause of worse health outcomes for African Americans. Believe me. I have looked.”

Dr. Kendall Conger (May 8, 2023)

“We cannot govern for the equal treatment of individuals (which will lead to unequal prosperity) and simultaneously for equal outcomes for groups (which will lead to equal poverty),” Dr. Conger said. “Nevertheless, Duke seems committed to influencing group outcomes rather than individual ones.” 

Read the full article here.