Thread by @MinoritySTEM

Today's my last day with you folk so I want to share my journey on educating myself on race in science & medicine. I'm not an expert so just going to cover a few points that hopefully will encourage you to question and learn more 🧐 @madina_wane

https://twitter.com/MinoritySTEM/status/1275015792858476546

Firstly I'd like to affirm that race has no meaningful biological basis. It doesn't does not tell you anything about your direct genetic ancestry. It is a social category that has very real impact on people, which is why we have racial inequalities.

@madina_wane

2020 has exacerbated the systemic racism that has existed for a long time. For example, in the UK, COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting Black and Asian communities. And global protests are challenging police brutality and other racism against Black people.
@madina_wane

So race/ethnicity are based on arbrtiary properties e.g skin colour, & culture, language etc. Ancestry is about who you are descended from. These categories sometimes overlap but this does not mean that race equates to ancestry.
This article explains this nationalgeographic.co.uk/history/2019/0…

But the idea of "biological race" is still ingrained in society. Let's look at COVID-19. When racial disparities were identified, people immediately questioned if this could be due to genetic differences or Vitamin D deficiencies
@madina_wane

Even with overwhelming evidence that racial inequalities in health are driven by social factors (poverty, differences in medical care etc driven by structural racism), people still fell back on innate biological explanations.
@madina_wane

The problem is that A) it distracts us from spending limited time/resources on actions that can most help PoC, B) it's poor science to think that hugely diverse groups are affected by a common "genetic" factor, C) it reaffirms the false idea of "biological race"
@madina_wane

@agladdenyoung is a Black scientist working on COVID-19 and writes about the many aspects of structural racism that are relevant to this pandemic. These are the kind of issues that need urgent work and attention.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

So let's look at race in modern science. Cells lines are cells that can be grown indefinitely and are used for research/biomedical purposes. The information for these cells includes the "race" of the donor....cont
@madina_wane

This may seem harmless but including race as a category implies that even the most basic building block of an organism - the cell - may be affected by this social construct of race. Again reaffirming the false notion that race=biology.
@madina_wane

This example might seem purely hypothetical so let's look at the very real consequences of treating race as a biological category. Let's explore this amazing @TEDTalks by @DorothyERoberts on "The problem with race-based medicine"

1. @DorothyERoberts says that there are "stereotypes that Black and brown people feel less pain" which means they are less likely to receive pain medication.

One study showed that this stereotype is linked to beliefs about racial biological differences e.g. "black people’s skin is thicker than white people’s skin"
pnas.org/content/113/16…

You also see the consequences in childbirth where Black and Hispanic mothers report experiencing higher pain but receive less pain relief.
reuters.com/article/us-hea…

2. @DorothyERoberts also talks about the spirometer, a device used by slaveowners to justify that Black people should be enslaved and in labour because they had poorer lung function. Spirometers are still used today and measurements are quantitatively adjusted according to race.

This means that if you have lower lung function as a Black, Asian or mixed race person, this is seen as normal and not indicative of a medical problem (see image). Spirometry is a recommended test for COVID-19. A pandemic disproportionately affecting Black/Brown people...

3. @DorothyERoberts also mentions the measure of kidney function, GFR, which is also adjusted according to race - because of a flawed assumption that Black people have higher muscle mass. But the measure isn't adjusted for muscle mass itself!
Citation: instituteforhealingandjustice.org/section-32-kid…

But change is happening!
The Institute for Healing & Justice was founded by med/grad students @bernielim @noorchadda & Maddy Kane at UCSF who have written a comprehensive report on this topic.
instituteforhealingandjustice.org

Some hospitals have actually changed their policies on GFR as a result of dedicated advocates.

https://twitter.com/LashNolen/status/1276181898394558467?s=19

Race & Health is a new collective who aim to address racial disparities in health. Check out their launch webinar and join them if you're interested

https://twitter.com/raceandhealth/status/1271505964978618369?s=19

Some books for further reading:
Killing the Black Body by @DorothyERoberts
Breathing Race into the Machine by @LundyBraun
Superior by Angela Saini

Please share any resources you've come across 👇🏾

Ah typo! @bernielim, @NoorChadha and Maddy Kane are the co-founders of the Institute for Healing and Justice!
Check out their launch for the report "Towards the Abolition of Biological Race in Medicine"

m.facebook.com/story.php?stor…

Oh one more 📚
Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington @haw95