Monday, Oct. 6, 2025
3-4:15 p.m. ET
Race/ethnicity is commonly used as a predictor variable in biomedical research. This practice is so frequent, it is nearly automatic, yet it is deeply flawed and can perpetuate inequities when race/ethnicity and other social-identity categories are treated as fixed characteristics rather than as proxies for the social, environmental, and structural factors that impact population health and produce unjust group differences in health outcomes.
In this talk, we will introduce a novel method, population-conscious analysis, which resolves the inappropriate use of race/ethnicity while also systematically assessing this critical factor, shifting the focus from describing health differences between social groups to understanding the mechanisms that produce those differences.
This webinar will be cohosted by the AAMC Center for Health Justice and the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Sciences (IAPHS).
Speakers
Felicity Enders, PhD
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Associate Director, Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Science
Deputy Director for Belonging, Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center
Consultant and Professor of Biostatistics, Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
Felicity Enders, PhD, is a professor of biostatistics at Mayo Clinic. She is a consulting statistician with 188 publications, an h-index of 65, and 29 publications with over 100 citations.
Enders is the associate dean for academic affairs in the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the associate director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Science, the deputy director for belonging in the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, and multiple principle investigator and lead statistician for the Center for Chronic Disease Reduction and Equity Promotion Across Minnesota (C2DREAM). Enders is a member of the advisory committee for the Encoding Equity Alliance through the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, an elected fellow in the American Statistical Association, and president-elect of the Association for Clinical and Translational Science.
Michael D. Green
Doctoral Candidate, Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine
Student Representative, Board of Directors, IAPHS
Michael D. Green (he/him) is a PhD candidate in population health sciences at the Duke University School of Medicine. His research broadly focuses on discrimination in health care settings, cardiovascular disease prevention, and aging. He is a National Institute on Aging F99/K00 fellow and serves as the student representative on the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Sciences (IAPHS) board of directors. Additionally, he is a member of the Early Career Committee for the Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research at the American Heart Association. Green is committed to eliminating health inequities and empowering early career researchers to achieve their goals and improve population health.
Carla S. Alvarado, PhD, MPH
Director of Research, AAMC Center for Health Justice
As director of research, Carla S. Alvarado ensures the quality of research and the application of asset-based and intersectionality frameworks to the center’s research to inform policies and actions that address health inequities. Alvarado’s expertise ranges from health policy, public health, and population health to intersectionality and health equity. She has previous experience in industry, government, academic, and nonprofit settings that include entities like Evernorth; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Across these settings, she has championed, operationalized, and implemented activities related to providing equal opportunity to all, as well as projects focusing on health equity.
Alvarado obtained a doctoral degree in public health with a focus on health policy from Oregon State University College of Public Health and Human Sciences. Her dissertation delved into quantitative application of the intersectionality framework to investigate disparities in health outcomes and health care utilization patterns. She earned a master’s in public health with a focus on management, policy, and community health from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Philip M. Alberti, PhD
Founding Director, AAMC Center for Health Justice
Senior Director, Health Equity Research and Policy, AAMC
As founding director of the AAMC Center for Health Justice and senior director of health equity research and policy at the AAMC, Philip M. Alberti, PhD sparks, supports, and contributes to community-driven, multisector efforts that build evidence for programs, policies, practices, and partnerships that eliminate unfair and unjust group differences in health.
He is a population health scientist whose singular professional commitment to health equity research and action spans 25 years. He is widely published, a frequent public speaker, and has served on advisory boards and expert panels for numerous organizations and federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He is also the current president of the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science. In 2021, Alberti founded the AAMC Center for Health Justice as the natural next step in a career focused on building evidence in support of the structural changes needed to ensure all communities have a genuine opportunity to thrive.
Prior to joining AAMC in 2012, Alberti led research, evaluation, and planning efforts for a bureau within the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that worked to promote community health and health equity across New York City neighborhoods. He holds a PhD in sociomedical sciences from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and was a fellow in the National Institute of Mental Health Psychiatric Epidemiology training program.