A book on health disparities co-authored by a UNMC physician received high marks in a book review published in the July 13 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine.
The book — “Multicultural Medicine and Health Disparities” — was written by Rubens Pamies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean of graduate studies at UNMC, and David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., interim president of the Morehouse School of Medicine and former U.S. Surgeon General. It was published by McGraw-Hill Publishing Company.
The book review was written by H. Jack Geiger, M.D., the Arthur C. Logan Professor Emeritus of Community Medicine, City University of New York Medical School, and a leading expert in racial and ethnic disparities in health care.
Dr. Geiger is a founding member and past president of Physicians for Human Rights, which shared in the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1998, and a founding member and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the U.S. affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1985.
|
|
The book, which contains 577 pages, is divided into three broad sections – health care disparities across the life span, the disparate burden of disease, and issues in health care policy and delivery.
Dr. Geiger called the first section on health disparities “a fresh and superbly documented presentation of the evidence – national, regional and local – of disparities among different groups from pregnancy through childhood to end-of-life care.”
In the second section on diseases, Dr. Geiger noted that the book covers several important categories, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, HIV infection and AIDS, obesity and mental health. He praised the book for its reporting on less frequently covered topics such as substance abuse, the prevention of injury and violence, and the management of pain.
The third section focused on core issues in health care such as diversity in the health workforce. Dr. Geiger had special praise for a “sterling essay on the benefits of affirmative action in higher education.” The essay was written by Jordan Cohen, M.D., president of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
“The stellar book review by Dr. Geiger simply confirms what we already knew,” said John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine. “The textbook on health care disparities was an outstanding literary work. It took an in-depth look at a topic that – until now – has been virtually ignored.
“It is further evidence of Dr. Pamies’ emergence as a leader in this key area of medicine. We’re really proud of him for this extraordinary effort. He has brought great pride to our institution.”
Dr. Pamies was thrilled with the positive book review. “The one thing that really stood out is that the reviewer said the book belongs on the desks — not the shelves — of health care professionals. I thought that was a very strong endorsement,” he said. “The whole idea behind the book was to raise awareness of health care disparities and how many lives are at stake as a result of them.
“I believe academic health science centers should make it a point to include a thorough review of health disparities and their causes as a required part of their educational programs. Hopefully, our textbook would be one of the resources they could use in that process. It would greatly increase the knowledge level of students and how they can address these disparities, and I think it could go a long way toward eliminating them.”
A native of New York City, Dr. Pamies, started at UNMC in 2003 after 14 previous years in academic medicine. His previous experience included serving on the faculty of the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, Case Western University School of Medicine in Cleveland, and Meharry Medical College in Nashville.
He earned his undergraduate degree from St. John’s University in New York City in 1981 and his medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine, in 1986. He did his internal medicine residency at Cornell-North Shore University Hospital in New York City.
In 1992-1993, Dr. Pamies did a fellowship with the AAMC Health Services Research Institute. The fellowship provided mentoring to 25 minority junior faculty to help them prepare for careers in academic medicine and allow them to do outcomes research.
Throughout his career, Dr. Pamies has been involved in furthering educational opportunities for students of color. In 2000, a scholarship was established in his name at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The scholarship was called the Dr. David Satcher-Dr. Rubens J. Pamies Scholarship for Academic Excellence for Minority Students.