Four graduates of the Wayne State University School of Medicine are among a group of 16 physicians and public health researchers who collaboratively wrote a perspective for the journal Health Equity this month exploring whether clinicians are contributing to the abundance of African Americans dying from COVID-19, and why. 

Anesthesiologist Adam Milam, M.D. ’16, Ph.D., is the first author of the publication, and chief resident at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of Los Angeles. Alumni and Detroit Medical Center residents Birgete Webb, M.D. ’17, and Lekiesha Porter, M.D. ’18, and Nnayereugo Ezekwemba, M.D. '19, also contributed to the piece.

The article, “Are clinicians contributing to excess African American COVID-19 deaths? Unbeknowst to them, they may be,” includes statistics on the overrepresentation. In Michigan, where African Americans represent 14% of the population, they account for more than 30% of COVID-19 cases and more than 40% of deaths. In Chicago, African Americans represent 70% of the COVID-19 deaths but only 29% of the city's population, per an NBCnews.com article accessed April 8 by the authors.

“African Americans are overrepresented among reported coronavirus disease 2019) cases and deaths. There are a multitude of factors that may explain the African American disparity in COVID-19 outcomes, including higher rates of comorbidities,” Dr. Milam wrote. “While individual-level factors predictably contribute to disparate COVID-19 outcomes, systematic and structural factors have not yet been reported. It stands to reason that implicit biases may fuel the racial disparity in COVID-19 outcomes. To address this racial disparity, we must apply a health equity lens and disaggregate data explicitly for African Americans, as well as other populations at risk for biased treatment in the health-care system.”