A reconceptualization of the role of biology in contributing to race/ethnic disparities in health outcomes

Abstract

An increasing amount of attention is being given to the inappropriate use of contributionsfrom the biological sciences in research on race/ethnic disparities in health. This discussionwill take a first step towards productive interdisciplinary collaboration with the biologicalsciences by recognizing the methodological and ethical problems underlying current researchon race/ethnic disparities. An alternative model is then presented that specifies the role ofbiology in contributing to race/ethnic disparities in health and mortality without reinforcinga biological conceptualization of race.