Health in the Neighborhood Elective

Health In The Neighborhood is a spring semester, first year elective taught by an interdisciplinary faculty that addresses health inequities, disparities and inequalities between Black and White Americans through three lenses:

• The impact of policies based on systemic structural racism, including underdeveloped segregated neighborhoods that affect the quality of the physical environment, and convenient access to superior schools, nutritious foods, and healthcare facilities.
• Doctors’ lack of knowledge and familiarity with life and culture in Black underdeveloped communities, which may limit rapport and treatment planning.
• Healthcare workers’ implicit and explicit biases toward Black patients that influence treatment recommendations.

The course is based in the underdeveloped Martin Luther King Eastside neighborhood where students will meet with community members and leaders, visit with neighborhood host families, and learn about health resources and public health services in the neighborhood and Eastside of Buffalo.

Students will read online relevant medical, sociological, and popular literature about health inequities and disparities and discuss readings with faculty in seminar classes at the medical school.