Hello everyone, and welcome to The Talk! Today, we are joined by Dr. Gwennetta Curry, who is a reader at the Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics at the University of Edinburgh and a leading scholar in global public health. Dr. Curry’s work uses critical race theory and Black family studies to explore racial and ethnic health disparities, examining how structural inequality, policy, and lived experience shape health outcomes.
During the pandemic, her research was at the forefront of understanding why and how ethnic minority communities were disproportionately affected. She coauthored significant evidence reviews, including the UNCOVER report on ethnic variation in the incidence and outcomes of the disease, and has contributed to influential global discussions through her work, which has been published in The Lancet.
Beyond her research, Dr. Curry plays an active role in shaping policy and public discourse. She is a member of the Royal Society DELVE initiative and contributes to the UK Inclusive Data Taskforce. She is also involved in advancing equity through the Medical School Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Alliance. Is that right? Let me make sure I got that right.
Gwenetta: Yes, that’s right.
Nicole: Her work challenges us to think critically about the systems that produce health inequities and how to change them. I know that you have done so much more than what I’ve announced here today, Dr. Curry, but I will make sure that I provide our viewers with the link to your most current research and what’s happening with your most recent groundbreaking work.
So, welcome, Dr. Curry.
Gwenetta: Thank you for the invitation and the lovely introduction. I am excited to have this conversation today, and you know, talk through my journey and answer some questions about racialized health inequalities. You know, I am in the UK, but I am from the US, so a lot of my work and most of my training was in the US is grounded in a lot of the theories that came from the States. And as I’ve been living in the UK, I definitely see a lot of parallels, even though the systems are vastly different.
Nicole: Excellent. So, let’s get us started by taking us back. So, Dr. Curry, what first drew you to studying health disparities, and were there any defining moments that shaped your research path?
Gwenetta: So, honestly, when I went through undergrad, I focussed on food and nutritional science. I always loved the science of food and nutrition. And when I got my master’s in animal science, it kind of led to a career in food science. So I had an opportunity to create new foods and be creative. But while I worked in corporate America, I was able to kind of see the corporate influence on deciding who had access to what foods. And I thought that was quite problematic. And I saw how that played out to impact people who lived in more deprived areas, which led to poorer health outcomes with disproportionately affected racialized minorities. And so those were some of the moments that drove me to really focus on health disparities. Across my family, a number of people throughout my family have suffered from various, you know, hypertension and whatnot, different cardiovascular diseases. Once people get older, these are some of the risks that happen. But as I started studying more, I was like, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. And I started digging into some of the structural and political and corporate reasons why certain groups are disproportionately affected by these diseases. So those were key moments in my life that I think shaped my drive to focus on health disparities.
To view the rest of the interview, please go to the BAAS YouTube website at https://youtu.be/dT8j0Dy3pbY.
For more information about Dr. Gwenetta Curry’s work see https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/persons/gwenetta-curry/.
