Racial Disparities in Healthcare

Joining the co-hosts for the fifth episode of THE Conversation are guest panelists Joseph Burns, 
David Hufford, Ph.D., and Gwyneth Packard. Paul Courtney and Marie Younger Blackburn also appear on the program. This edition of THE Conversation focuses on two topics: “Where do you see racial disparities in the delivery of healthcare?” and “How might we address racial disparities in healthcare?”

A freelance journalist currently living in Brewster, Joseph Burns is the health insurance topic leader for the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) and contributes to AHCJ’s Covering Health blog. He also writes about health policy and the business of health care for a variety of publications. As a writer and editor, Mr. Burns has covered health care since 1991 for various organizations, including The Commonwealth Fund, the National Alliance for Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, and others. From 1991 to 1994, he was editor-in-chief of Business & Health magazine. Mr. Burns was the founding editor of The Financial Manager, a magazine for accountants and other business strategists. Before 1991, he worked as an editor for The Hartford Courant, and he taught news writing at the University of Connecticut.

David Hufford, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania where he received his Ph.D. His specialty is culture and health. While at the university, he was a professor of Behavioral Science and was the Chair of the Medical Humanities department with joint appointments in Family Medicine and Psychiatry from 1974 to 2007. After his retirement from the university, Dr. Hufford was named a Senior Fellow at Samueli Medical Institute from 2008 to 2015. He is now retired and living in Media, PA.

Gwyneth Packard moved to the area in 1991 for a twelve-week internship and stayed, making her home here and raising a family. Ms. Packard is one of the leaders of Engage Falmouth and a co-Chair of the Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. As a biracial female in engineering, Ms. Packard works at advocating for women in STEM. She is an organizer for the Maria Mitchell Women of Science Symposium with the Maria Mitchell Association and participates in efforts such as Black in Marine Science Week.