Thank you for your interest in this event led by Canadian Bioethics Society students during Black History Month, titled Bioethics & Racial Disparities in Healthcare: Student Perspectives. The event will consist of a panel of three students who will share deliberations on (a) how the field of bioethics can assist with addressing racial disparities in healthcare and (b) where bioethics, as a field, could do better to address this discrimination and inequity.

To note: given the personal nature of this topic for many individuals and communities, especially in light of the ongoing systemic racism and oppression faced by Black communities, Indigenous peoples, and People of Colour, we ask that all attendees ensure respect towards other people, communities, races, and cultures during this conversation, and that this be kept at the forefront of our minds while engaging in associated reflections.

Speaker Details:

Opening address from LLana James

• LLana James is the AI, Medicine and Data Post-Doctoral Fellow at Queens University. She is also wrapping up her doctoral studies at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine. Her research is focused on the intersection of AI applications in clinical care, population health, public health policy, and the law, and its particular implications for BlackLife. LLana’s recent thinking and research can be found in the Conversation, the Toronto Star, the AI health podcast and the web series COVID conversations, which is the first and longest running pan-Canadian series on race-based data collection, AI, Big Data, privacy, ethics and equity in health. You can find more about this at @REDE4BlackLives on Twitter.

Panelists:

• Heidee Schreiber graduated from McMaster University with a degree in Health Studies. Over the years, she has gained thorough academic experience in the fields that interest her most including bioethics, the social determinants of health, health policy and the varying perspectives of health and healthcare that are undergoing constant redefinition. Heidee is also a member of the Youth Public Health Association of Canada as part of the Health Policy Solutions Working Group. She is pursuing a career as a Nurse Practitioner and is interested in public health as a means of better understanding how to treat patients using a well holistic and patient-centred method in place of the current substantial reliance on the biomedical model.

• Tamara Gutic is a third-year student at McMaster University. I am currently studying Justice, Political Philosophy and Law with a minor in Political Science. Her key focus areas include healthcare, environment and international relations, and how all these fields intertwine with the study law and justice. Throughout the last year, Tamara has based her research on international health policies and their lack of accessibility for minority groups in order to better understand how these policies need to be adjusted. She enjoys doing comparative research to develop an understanding on how different nations implement health policies and their varying success rates.

• Vanessa Ferguson is a philosophy and health studies undergraduate student at McMaster University. She has a strong interest in bioethics and its impact on health care systems and the people they serve. As a woman of colour, Vanessa has a unique health care journey of her own. She recognizes the reality of racial disparities which exists and persists within health care systems. Vanessa hopes to utilize her experiences and education to find innovative ways to initiate system-level changes in health care across Canada. Next year Vanessa hopes to continue her studies in bioethics at the graduate-level.

Additional Details:

This event is free and open to those with interests in bioethics. The link to the lecture will be sent out to registered participants before the event takes place.

Questions? Please email the CBS Student Members-at-Large at studentscbs@gmail.com