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Kelly Lecture to Examine Issues of Hidden Bias in Health Care

University of Washington Research Associate Professor Janice A. Sabin, one of the earliest investigators in the nation to apply the science of unconscious bias to health care disparities research, will present the UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity’s (OMA&D) 12th annual Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture, on Fri., April 8.

Janice Sabin
Dr. Janice A. Sabin

Her lecture, “Hidden Bias in Health Care: A Reflection on 10 Years of Health Care Disparities Research,” will take place at wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House at 6 p.m. A reception will precede the lecture starting at 5 p.m.

The event is free, however advance registration is requested by April 1. Get tickets hereThe event is also a part of the UW’s Parent and Family Weekend, April 8-10.

In 2002, an Institute of Medicine report found strong evidence of unequal health care treatment based on patient race and ethnicity, leading to worse health outcomes. Since then, Dr. Sabin has focused her work on addressing questions around how provider bias contributes to unequal treatment and what can be done to mediate it. Her lecture will summarize a decade of research on hidden bias in health care and describe a course on health care disparities she developed for physicians, nurses and health providers in-training.

Dr. Sabin is a research associate professor in the UW School of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education. She is also an adjunct research associate professor in the UW School of Social Work and affiliated faculty with the UW School of Medicine Center for Health, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Her work is published in leading academic journals and has received extensive national and international media attention.

Dr. Sabin is a graduate of Boston University and the UW School of Social Work (MSW in health/mental health in 2001, Ph.D. in social welfare in 2006). Along with her brother, she is writing a book about their grandmother’s immigration to the United States in 1917.

Inaugurated in 2005, this lecture series honors the late Dr. Kelly, UW’s first vice president for the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity (1970). It is dedicated to acknowledging the work of distinguished faculty by spotlighting research focused on diversity and social justice.