Joseph Wright, MD, MPH, chief health equity officer and senior vice president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, will share insights to reduce variations in care, address health disparities, and eliminate barriers to equitable health care for diverse patient populations at the Children’s Hospital Association’s 2025 Transforming Quality Conference.
Wright spent more than two decades in senior leadership at Children’s National Hospital and was a tenured professor and chair of pediatrics at the Howard University College of Medicine. He is among the nation’s original cohort of board-certified pediatric emergency physicians with scholarly interests that include injury prevention and the needs of underserved communities.
What barriers to equitable care are unique to children’s health care?
The current state of equity science struggles to move from proxy measures of health and well-being to more specific metrics that more closely capture the essence of patients’ lived experiences, particularly at the community and family levels. This is especially challenging in pediatrics, where assessment must account for the inherent changes associated with child development, the impact of epigenetic influences, and the underlying biologic effects of intergenerational adversity, all of which are evolving – and critically important – elements of equity science.
What’s the biggest misconception about health equity in pediatric health care?
Not exclusively relevant to pediatric health care, but to health care and to society is the perception of addressing inequities as a zero-sum game. In other words, ‘if they win, I lose.’ The fact is that addressing and mitigating inequities that have disproportionally impacted historically marginalized and minoritized populations benefits all patients. ‘A rising tide floats all boats,’ and there is ample evidence of this truth in pediatric hospital medicine.
What do you want people to take back to their hospitals following your keynote?
Equitable care is quality care. Incorporating health equity into continuous quality improvement is a nondiscretionary, nonnegotiable responsibility for all health care organizations.
What’s one thing you hope every conference attendee reflects on after your talk?
The road to advancing health equity is a journey. No matter where we are as individuals along the equity journey in terms of our own personal lived experience or professional fund of knowledge, we all must absolutely see ourselves as contributors to the work. Our patients and their families deserve no less commitment.
How will your message impact children’s lives?
Children may represent 22% of the population, but they are 100% of our future. Ensuring all children everywhere have the greatest potential to realize optimal health and well-being throughout their lives is the ultimate goal to which we must all aspire.
At the Transforming Quality Conference, Children’s hospital quality leaders and staff will learn actionable strategies to foster meaningful progress and integrate equitable practices into access, care delivery, and patient outcomes. Register for the Transforming Quality Conference.
