Penn Bioethics Seminar Series (PBS): "Understanding Health Equity" led by Doug MacKay, PhD

12:00pm - 1:00pm • Hybrid: 1402 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive (and virtual via Zoom)

2025-04-08 12:00:00 2025-04-08 13:00:00 America/New_York Penn Bioethics Seminar Series (PBS): "Understanding Health Equity" led by Doug MacKay, PhD Understanding Health Equity Douglas MacKay, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Public Policy University of North Carolina The concept of health equity (and its inverse, health inequity) is often invoked by public health policymakers and scholars to justify government action. Because health equity is so central to the operations of public health agencies, its meaning is highly consequential for public health policy. In this talk, Dr. MacKay first identifies challenges with two prominent approaches to identifying health inequities, disparitarian approaches, which define health inequities as unfair health disparities among groups, and derivative approaches, which define health inequities as health outcomes resulting from injustice. Dr. MacKay then offers a new framework for identifying health inequities and outlines the justificatory burdens public health scholars and policymakers must discharge to show that specific health outcomes are inequitable. Lunch provided; please register in advance. Streaming available via Zoom. Hybrid: 1402 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive (and virtual via Zoom) Penn Medical Ethics

The concept of health equity (and its inverse, health inequity) is often invoked by public health policymakers and scholars to justify government action. Because health equity is so central to the operations of public health agencies, its meaning is highly consequential for public health policy. In this talk, Dr. MacKay first identifies challenges with two prominent approaches to identifying health inequities, disparitarian approaches, which define health inequities as unfair health disparities among groups, and derivative approaches, which define health inequities as health outcomes resulting from injustice. Dr. MacKay then offers a new framework for identifying health inequities and outlines the justificatory burdens public health scholars and policymakers must discharge to show that specific health outcomes are inequitable.