Dear Community:

Please join me in celebrating Karen Bankston, PhD, professor emerita in the UC College of Nursing, newly named one of the Chamber’s Great Living Cincinnatians! This honor recognizes a lifetime of leadership, service, and vision, and it fits Dr. Bankston perfectly. As one of the original leaders who helped launch the Center for Closing the Health Gap in 2004, she planted seeds that still bear fruit in our neighborhoods today. Her example reminds us what courageous, community-first health leadership looks like.

Two quick ways to live that spirit with us this week:

• Caregiver Support Series—Tomorrow, Dec. 6: a one-day session offering practical tools and community for those caring for older loved ones.
• Halle-Bration Volunteers—Dec. 12–13: help power the 13th annual Black holiday market, welcoming families, supporting vendors, and spreading joy.

Thank you, Dr. Bankston—and thank you, community—for showing how We Must Save Us becomes real. Wishing all of you a safe and healthy week ahead!



Renee Mahaffey Harris

President & CEO

A CALL FOR HALLE-BRATION VOLUNTEERS!

The 13th annual Halle-Bration Black holiday market returns December 12-13! We are looking for volunteers to help make this event successful. There are various time slots available. Halle-Bration features vendors, live entertainment, and fun activities for the entire family. Come out and support this wonderful event!

Join our 1-Day Saturday Session for Caregivers on December 6!

Caring for a loved one is both rewarding and challenging. Most people cannot truly understand these challenges. Our series allows you to be in community and learn from other Caregivers like you, and give you tools to fulfill your responsibilities even better.

New Book Reveals Systems that Create Health Gaps

Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Penn Nursing, has co-authored a new book, Systems That Impact Population Health: Past and Present, developed through the National Academy of Medicine’s (NAM) Culture of Health Program. The publication serves as a critical examination of how foundational US systems, including law, education, housing, and health care, have historically shaped, and continue to dictate health outcomes across diverse communities.

The book moves beyond focusing on individual behavior, arguing embedded institutional barriers is key to ensuring health for all. It is organized around seven distinct population groups, drawing on rigorous research and lived experience to reveal how these systems often influence opportunity, leading to persistent health disparities.

UC Nursing Professor Emerita Karen Bankston named a Great Living Cincinnatian

Karen Bankston, PhD, professor emerita in the UC College of Nursing, is one of four individuals named Great Living Cincinnatians by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. The honor is given to individuals to recognize their business and civic attainment on a local, state, national or international level; leadership; awareness of the needs of others, and distinctive accomplishments that have brought favorable attention to their community, institution or organization.

Bankston is longtime champion of the College of Nursing. She earned her PhD, in nursing research, organization behavior, in 2005 and joined the college’s faculty in 2012 as an associate dean for clinical practice, partnership and community engagement. In that role, which Bankston held for six years, she was responsible for developing and maintaining partnerships and collaborations with nursing and other disciplines to provide leading-edge clinical experiences for students and effective and efficient environments that support practice and teaching for College of Nursing faculty/staff.

Bankston has more than 40 years of experience in hospital administration serving as senior vice presidents for patient care and operations at University Hospital and a senior vice president for external affairs with The Health Alliance. She also served as a senior vice president/CEO for the Drake Center. She also helped launch the Center for Closing the Health Gap.

Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: Current Status and Key Issues

Stark racial disparities in maternal and infant health in the U.S. have persisted for decades despite continued advancements in medical care. Compared to other high-income countries, the U.S. remains the country with the highest rate of maternal deaths. The disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people of color brought increased attention to health disparities, including the longstanding inequities in maternal and infant health. Subsequently, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, growing barriers to abortion, cuts to staff and programs within the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the passage of the 2025 tax and budget law all have the potential to further widen existing disparities in maternal health.



This brief provides an overview of racial disparities for selected measures of maternal and infant health, discusses the factors that drive these disparities, and provides an overview of policy changes that may impact them. It is based on KFF analysis of publicly available data from CDC WONDER online database, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) National Vital Statistics Reports, and the CDC Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System.

How to Address Racial and Social Disparities in Pancreatic Cancer Care?

It is important to recognize disparities in pancreatic cancer, especially those concerning barriers to treatment access, inequal outcomes across racial and ethnic groups, and other social drivers of health, according to Jose G. Trevino, II, MD, FACS.

In a conversation with CancerNetwork, Trevino discussed strategies for addressing some of the most prominent gaps and inequalities in pancreatic cancer care. For example, he highlighted relatively limited treatment access for those residing in rural areas as well as worse survival outcomes for patients who are Black. Additionally, he noted how one’s genetic background or ancestry may hold clues for better understanding the biology of pancreatic disease across different populations, which may, in turn, help improve treatment across the board.

‘Devastating’ health impacts of child poverty require action, Academy urges

As the Government prepares to publish its Child Poverty Strategy, a new roundtable report from the Academy of Medical Sciences and British Academy warns that without addressing the profound impacts of poverty on health outcomes, efforts to support children risk falling short.  

Building on the significant decision in the Budget to lift the two-child benefit cap and with publication of the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy, the Academy of Medical Sciences warns that more is needed to address the devastating health consequences of poverty - including early intervention and coordinated action across departments - alongside income support. It comes as the Academy publishes a new roundtable report with the British Academy examining factors affecting children’s opportunities to thrive in school.  

New National Study Finds Doctors Paid Less for Treating Black and Hispanic Patients

Physicians receive less pay for outpatient care provided to Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black patients than for white patients, according to a new national study from LDI Senior Fellows Aaron Schwartz and David Asch, and LDI Executive Director Rachel M. Werner. The payment difference was even more pronounced for pediatric visits. Patients’ health insurance was a key factor in the disparities.

“To put it plainly, doctors in the U.S. get paid more for taking care of white patients than for taking care of non-white patients,” said Asch. “Many factors explain that difference, but no factors justify it. Sometimes a single finding encapsulates the problem.”

The researchers are the first to analyze physician payments for outpatient care.



“Our study highlights the role of gaps in physician payments, which could broadly shape differences in health care across patient groups,” said Schwartz.