Toward a New Epistemology for Medical Science

The use of race remains common at all levels of medical science and practice, including education, research, and care delivery. There are ongoing vigorous debates about the validity of the manner in which race is used. Unfortunately, when one looks closely at the manner in which race is used, what one often finds is in fact racism. This article explores some of the ways in which the development of the concept of race as a biological construct, was used to justify racism, and shaped the early development of scientific thought. This historical perspective is used to elaborate the ways in which those seminal ideas continue to distort medical research, education, and care delivery, and perpetuate health disparities.