The importance of health equity research for all populations in the United States: SEQUINS hall of fame lecture.

Abstract

Background: Health equity research has recently been criticized by both liberals and conservatives in the U.S. This research holds potential to serve all U.S. populations by examining mechanisms of resilience. Resilience may broadly be defined as the development of the ability to withstand adversity that leads to the prevention or recovery from disease.

Purpose: This is an invited paper stemming from a Society for Equity Neuroscience (SEQUINS) inaugural Hall of Fame lecture in May of 2025.

Methods: The authors use research focused on Mexican Americans in the Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi (BASIC) project to illustrate how health equity research may be informative for all U.S. populations. BASIC is a community-based project with strong collaborations in the community.

Results: Over the 25 years of BASIC's existence, the stroke disparity among Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic White Americans has largely vanished with respect to incidence, recurrence, and outcome (neurologic, functional, and cognitive). This suggests that resilience mechanisms among Mexican Americans have improved stroke health outcomes. Using a framework suggested by Taylor and colleagues, the authors propose that these resilience mechanisms may help all Americans regardless of race and ethnicity.

Conclusions: Studying resilience offers a novel, hopeful aspect to health equity research that may demonstrate benefits across the U.S. Still, resilience implies the need to suffer first. Improving health outcomes by removing barriers and ensuring adequate healthcare for all Americans should be the goal. Health equity researchers should work closely with communities to design and conduct projects that are important to that community.