For over twenty-five years, Robert Kreisman has been a member of Chicago’s Union League Club and has helped support its motto of “commitment to community and country.” As part of its commitment to examining critical social issues, the Union League Club (ULC) hosted a forum examining the role race plays in access to quality healthcare. “Race and Healthcare: Examining the Disparities” featured a panel of doctors who spoke about their observations of the role of race in Chicago’s healthcare system.
The event was moderated by Dr. Terry Mason. Dr. Mason is currently the Chief Medical Officer of the Cook County Health & Hospital System (CCHHS) and post Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. As moderator, Dr. Mason provided a brief history of the disparity that exists in healthcare delivered to different classes of Americans.
He then introduced the two panelists, Dr. Anthony LoSasso and Dr. Carl Bell, who then spoke to the various government policies and clinical considerations that perpetuate the healthcare disparity. Dr. LoSasso serves as a faculty member of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois Chicago. Dr. Bell is an internationally recognized author, lecturer, and psychiatrist who advocates for violence prevention among mental health patients.