Bridging the Gaps: Redefining Healthcare Through a Justice Lens

The for-profit American healthcare model has left gaps in the system that harm everyone by stripping away the human element and emboldening shifty ethical and legal practices. The authors of this panel draw on their medical expertise to propose new frameworks for healing by targeting specific areas of today’s complex healthcare system. In My Brother's Keeper, UCSF psychiatrist Dr. Nicholas Rosenlicht introduces a paradigm shift toward real and lasting solutions in mental health care built on a deep understanding of larger social and economic forces, while clinical psychologist Dr. Yamonte Cooper centers the Black male experience and addresses racial trauma from a clinical lens in Black Men and Racial Trauma: Impacts, Disparities, and Interventions, which equips mental health professionals across all disciplines to be culturally responsive when serving Black men. In All This Safety is Killing Us, a comprehensive, multimedia guide to abolition through the lens of healthcare and medicine, health justice advocate Dr. Carlos Martinez combines political strategy with evidence-based medical and social science research to envision a post-carceral society co-created by the voices our justice systems should be protecting. Those working within public health and medical fields have a critical role to play in ensuring inclusive care, and the advocates of this panel, along with moderator Dr. Vanessa Grubbs, are paving the way toward a truly safe and flourishing society.