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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Leveraging Trust to Advance Science, Engineering, and Medicine in the Black Community: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27649.

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LEVERAGING TRUST TO ADVANCE SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY: A WORKSHOP PLANNING COMMITTEE

CEDRIC BRIGHT (Co-Chair), Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University

RANDALL C. MORGAN, JR. (Co-Chair), W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute

LYNNE M. HOLDEN, Mentoring in Medicine, Inc. (MIM)

CAMARA P. JONES [NAM],¹ Morehouse School of Medicine

GUALBERTO RUAÑO, University of Connecticut

LOUIS W. SULLIVAN [NAM], Morehouse School of Medicine

Staff

ANDRÉ N. PORTER, Senior Program Officer, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

RIAN LUND DAHLBERG, Director, Board on Higher Education and Workforce

REGINALD HAYES, Associate Program Officer, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

JOHN VERAS, Associate Program Officer, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

KARLA RILEY, Senior Program Assistant, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

PAULA T. WHITACRE, Consultant Writer

ROUNDTABLE ON BLACK MEN AND BLACK WOMEN IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE

CATO T. LAURENCIN [NAS/NAE/NAM] (Chair), University of Connecticut

OLUJIMI AJIJOLA, UCLA Medical Center

GILDA A. BARABINO [NAE/NAM], Olin College of Engineering

CHARLES R. BRIDGES, JR. [NAE], CorVista Health

CEDRIC M. BRIGHT, East Carolina University

L. D. BRITT [NAM], Eastern Virginia Medical School

ANDRÉ L. CHURCHWELL, Vanderbilt University

THEODORE CORBIN [NAM], Drexel University

GEORGE Q. DALEY [NAM], Harvard Medical School

WAYNE A. I. FREDERICK [NAM], Howard University

PAULA T. HAMMOND [NAS/NAE/NAM], Massachusetts Institute of Technology

EVELYNN M. HAMMONDS [NAM], Harvard University

LYNNE M. HOLDEN, Mentoring in Medicine, Inc. (MIM)

CAMARA P. JONES [NAM], Morehouse School of Medicine

CORA BAGLEY MARRETT, University of Wisconsin–Madison

VALERIE MONTGOMERY RICE [NAM], Morehouse School of Medicine

RANDALL C. MORGAN, JR., W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute

ELIZABETH O. OFILI [NAM], Morehouse School of Medicine

VIVIAN W. PINN [NAM], National Institutes of Health (Retired)

JOAN Y. REEDE [NAM], Harvard Medical School

LOUIS W. SULLIVAN [NAM], Morehouse School of Medicine

HANNAH VALANTINE [NAM], Stanford University

CLYDE W. YANCY [NAM], Northwestern University

MARK ALEXANDER (Ex Officio Member), 100 Black Men of America, Inc.

MARIE A. BERNARD (Ex Officio Member), National Institutes of Health

IVORY DEAN (Ex Officio Member), Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

GARTH N. GRAHAM [NAM] (Ex Officio Member), Google, Inc.

IAN HENRY (Ex Officio Member), Procter & Gamble Company

JOHN R. LUMPKIN [NAM] (Ex Officio Member), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation

SHIRLEY M. MALCOM [NAS] (Ex Officio Member), American Association for the Advancement of Science

ALFRED MAYS (Ex Officio Member), Burroughs Wellcome Fund

LAMONT R. TERRELL (Ex Officio Member), GSK

Project Staff

ANDRÉ N. PORTER, Senior Program Officer, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

RIAN LUND DAHLBERG, Director, Board on Higher Education and Workforce

REGINALD HAYES, Associate Program Officer, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

JOHN VERAS, Associate Program Officer, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

KARLA RILEY, Senior Program Assistant, Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

Acknowledgments

This Proceedings of a Workshop was prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what was presented and discussed at the workshop. The planning committee’s role was limited to planning and convening the workshop. The statements made are those of the rapporteur and do not necessarily represent positions of the workshop participants as a whole, the planning committee, or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. We wish to extend sincere thanks to all the members of the planning committee for their contributions in scoping, developing, and carrying out this project.

This Proceedings of a Workshop was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) in making each published proceedings as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this proceedings:

SHAILLY BARNES, Kairos Center

DARLA THOMPSON, American Association for the Advancement of Science

BEVERLY WRIGHT, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the content of the proceedings, nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this proceedings was overseen by MARILYN BAKER, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Appointed by the National Academies, she was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this proceedings was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this proceedings rests entirely with the rapporteur and the National Academies.

Preface

I am honored to serve as chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and to serve as the editor of the remarkable series of proceedings publications from the Roundtable. Our work began in 2015 when I and leaders of the W. Montague Cobb/National Medical Association Health Institute recognized the growing absence of Black men in medical schools. In fact, levels of Black men entering medical school reached a historic low in the 2015 and 2016 years. Starting in 2016, and with financial support from important partners such as the Aetna Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Connecticut Legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, we began planning a National Academies workshop on issues surrounding the absence of Black men in medicine. The joint workshop, entitled “The Growing Absence of Black Men in Medicine and Science,” took place in 2017. It was historic in that, to my knowledge, it was the first National Academies activity specifically focused on issues involving Black people. The proceedings of that workshop is entitled An American Crisis: The Growing Absence of Black Men in Medicine and Science. It was released in May 2018, and corresponded to a briefing on the subject of Black men and medicine with the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C. Many of the ideas that emerged from the workshop have been embraced by academia, industry, and philanthropy. We were encouraged by the success of the workshop, and An American Crisis has become one of the top downloaded documents for the National Academies.

Our next steps involved the development of a more permanent presence in the National Academies to discuss issues surrounding Black men and Black women in science, engineering, and medicine. With support from our anchor partners named above, along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and the University of Pittsburg, and with the leadership and commitment from Dr. Victor J. Dzau, the president of the National Academy of Medicine, the Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine was launched late in 2018. I am grateful to the steering committee members for the Roundtable: Drs. L. D. Britt, Cedric M. Bright, George Q. Daley, Randall C. Morgan Jr., Elizabeth O. Ofili, Vivian W. Pinn, and Louis W. Sullivan.

The Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine has garnered considerable support and recognition. Funding for the Roundtable comes from public-sector entities such as the National Institutes of Health, private companies such as Johnson & Johnson, and private foundations including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. It is gratifying to see the hard work and expertise of the Roundtable membership and Roundtable National Academies staff being so acknowledged.

In December 2022, the Roundtable convened the workshop entitled “Leveraging Trust to Advance Science, Engineering, and Medicine in the Black Community.” The premise behind the workshop was that trust in science, engineering, and medicine can be lacking in the Black community. Indeed, many studies have confirmed, for instance, that Blacks mistrust the medical community in delivering quality care, and that mistrust is not only rooted in historical contexts but in frank realities of today. Blacks in science, engineering, and medicine have an important obligation to build and foster trust in Black communities. How is trust earned?

The goal of the workshop was to understand the strategies and lessons learned from groups in the Black community that command trust. This would include, for example, the Black Church. The approach of the workshop was to examine strategies at the local, national, and international area, and to create universal ideas that would help those in science, engineering, and medicine gain and improve trust through mutual respect and collaboration.

The workshop broke new ground in various areas. First, a large emphasis was on the Black Church, and how it engages communities of color. The role of various nonprofits in promoting trust in communities was examined. Also, the built environment—and how it has affected Black communities

Contents

1 Introduction

CONTEXT FOR THE WORKSHOP

ORGANIZATION OF THIS PROCEEDINGS

REFERENCES

2 Keynote: Race-Based Segregation and Environmental Health Disparities

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

RESOURCES

TRUST

REFERENCES

3 Historical Roots of Medical Mistrust

REFRAMING THE HISTORY

RECOGNIZING VIOLENCE AS A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE

THE IMPACT OF EARLY MEDICAL EDUCATION

REFERENCES

4 Building Trust in SEM Institutions

CONSIDERATIONS OF MISCOMMUNICATION AND MISTRUST

SURVEY OF BLACK AMERICANS AND STEM

DISCUSSION

REFERENCES

5 Federal Response to Health Equity and Environmental Justice

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

NATIONAL HEART, LUNG, AND BLOOD INSTITUTE

NIH COMMON FUND

DISCUSSION

REFERENCE

6 Keynote Address: Closing Health Disparities throughout the National Institutes of Health

INTRODUCTION TO NIMHD

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

REFERENCES

7 Emerging Public Health and Environmental Justice Concerns of Black Communities

CONNECTING THE DOTS

FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

DISCUSSION

REFERENCES

8 The Power of the Black Church

CHOOSE HEALTHY LIFE

DISCUSSION

9 Role of Nonprofits

BLACK COALITION AGAINST COVID

A ROLE FOR SMALL AND LARGE NONPROFITS

BUILDING HEALTHCARE ADMINISTRATOR LEADERSHIP

ACADEMIC MEDICINE AS PARTNERS

REFERENCES

10 Closing Reflections

REMARKS FROM DR. LOUIS SULLIVAN

REMARKS FROM DR. CATO LAURENCIN

Appendixes

A Workshop Agenda

B Biographical Sketches of Workshop Speakers

Box, Figures, and Table

BOX

1-1 Workshop Statement of Task

FIGURES

2-1 HOLC maps and current segregation

2-2 Social-Ecological Model of health

4-1 Black Americans’ views about success in SEM

5-1 Indicators of environmental and health disparities (draft version)

5-2 NIH Climate and Health Initiative

5-3 Structural interventions span multiple sectors

6-1 How NIMHD’s mission is achieved

6-2 NIMHD Research Framework

6-3 Distribution of NIMHD FOAs by mechanism, 2018–2022

7-1 Assets in the Black community

7-2 Climate and health interactions

TABLE

2-1 Population Composition of Detroit