The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies will hold a briefing on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, at which we will launch a new report, “Race and Ethnicity Data Collection:  Beyond Standardization.”  The briefing at the Joint Center will feature a discussion with the report’s author, Brooke Cunningham, M.D., Ph.D., a fellow in General Internal Medicine and Greenwall Fellow at the Berman Institute of Bioethics at the Johns Hopkins University.

Many healthcare professionals, researchers and policymakers are unclear as to how and why racial and ethnic factors are relevant in medicine and health research.  And despite new federal requirements for standardized race and ethnicity data collection, federal guidelines do not address the difficulties that researchers and policymakers have interpreting race and ethnicity data.

Dr. Cunningham’s report provides an overview of race and ethnicity that is intended to build a foundation for a more accurate understanding of the mechanisms through which race and ethnicity impact health.  Her review of these concepts reiterates the social nature of race, clarifies the difference between race and ethnicity and explains why race is not biological or genetic.

Following Dr. Cunningham’s presentation, a distinguished panel of respondents will offer commentary.  The panelists include, Vence Bonham, Associate Investigator in the Social and Behavioral Research Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and Senior Advisor to the NHGRI Director on the Societal Implications of Genomics; and Roderick Harrison, Senior Research Fellow, Civic Engagement and Governance Institute, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at Howard University.

Lunch will be provided. Space is limited. To attend, RSVP to hpibrownbag@jointcenter.org.