Robert Scott, M.D. for his service and delivery of care to communities of color in the East Bay, especially his work in HIV and AIDS treatment and advocacy.

Robert Scott, M.D., is a leading advocate for HIV/AIDS treatment and research, and a dedicated practitioner caring for about 450 men and women infected with HIV. Scott cofounded the AIDS Project of the East Bay, the oldest and largest service organization in Alameda County that provides food, housing, and medical support for people with HIV. As the only physician specializing in HIV/AIDS in Oakland, he treats more than 2,000 people in his practice, and makes house calls when his patients are too sick to leave their homes.

At a time when HIV and AIDS have disproportionately affected the African American community, Scott has worked to raise awareness about the disease.  He helped found the AIDS ministry at Allen Temple Baptist church, which helped to build a subsidized housing project in Oakland for people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to local community work, the ministry adopted an orphanage in Zimbabwe, which shelters children with AIDS or whose parents died from the disease. Scott and members of the ministry visit the orphanage and deliver care packages and supplies.

Scott, who was born in Chicago, first came to Oakland in 1969 as a biology instructor at Laney College. He completed his medical internship at Emory University Hospitals in 1975 and his residency in internal medicine at Stanford University Hospitals in 1977. One month later he started a private practice in Oakland, and has been caring for patients ever since. His strong bedside manner and tireless compassion have won over the trust of countless patients who are struggling to deal with the physical and emotional hardships of the AIDS diagnosis. Scott has addressed physicians and medical associations around the country to educate and advocate on behalf of people with the disease.

 

AWARD PRESENTER Arnold X. C. Perkins

As director of the Alameda County Public Health Department since 1994, Arnold X. C. Perkins has been at the forefront of the fight to prevent and treat AIDS in the Bay Area. Perkins oversaw the creation of an array of HIV and AIDS prevention programs designed to reach diverse populations. HIV and AIDS disproportionately affect African Americans and Latinos, and under Perkins's leadership, programs in the county include education and outreach designed to reach these groups. He also managed the development of ten community health teams throughout the county who deliver individual and population wide services and work towards community building. Perkins is a nationally recognized speaker and leader in the campaign to improve the health of communities, and has received awards and recognitions from many groups including the United Way of the Bay Area, the San Francisco Foundation, and the Center for Independent Living. Perkins is a member of the School of Public Health Policy Advisory Council.

 

THE CHALLENGE Confronting Health Disparities in our Community

Vast health inequities exist in the United States, and in some communities, the disparities are becoming worse. The Department of Health Services reports much higher rates of chronic illness and morbidity for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans than for whites. The CDC Office of Minority Health found that ethnic groups received significantly lower quality of care than whites for a number of health problems, including diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and respiratory diseases. African Americans are twice as likely as whites to have diabetes, and Native Americans are more than twice as likely. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have the highest rate of tuberculosis of any group. Hispanic women are two and a half times more likely than whites to develop cervical cancer. Adding to these disparities are a host of cultural, economic, and linguistic barriers that limit or prevent access to effective treatment for health issues. Health disparities are particularly striking in the area of HIV and AIDS. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, racial and ethnic minorities accounted for almost 70 percent of newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases. Although African Americans make up only 13 percent of the population in the United States, they account for half of the HIV/AIDS cases. African American men are more than 9 times as likely to die from HIV/AIDS as non-Hispanic white men, and African American women are more than 22 times as likely to die as non-Hispanic white women. The CDC reported that in 2000, African American and Hispanic children made up 80 percent of the pediatric AIDS cases, and about 78 percent of HIV-infected women were from minority groups.

 

THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONDS

The School has long been a leader in the fight against health disparities, and faculty and students combine health research with work in the field to improve outcomes in disadvantaged communities. In particular, the Center for Multicultural Health has made its mission the reduction of health disparities and the recruitment of the next generation of public health leaders from underserved groups. The School contributes to disparity reduction in many ways:

• Researchers throughout the Divisions of Community Health and Human Development and Health Policy and Management examine contributors to poor health outcomes such as lack of health care access, environmental factors, and racism, and offer strategies for improving health outcomes in vulnerable communities.
  
  
• The Center for Public Health Practice collaborates with community agencies to offer student internships with a focus on disparity reduction.
  
  
• The Center for Multicultural Health recruits and supports students from underrepresented communities at the middle, high school, and college levels to create a diverse public health workforce.
  
  
• Investigators in Epidemiology and in Environmental Health Sciences look at the links between environmental hazards in poor communities and health risks, and create interventions to minimize those risks. Projects such as the Center for Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas have worked to reduce the impact of environmental toxins on underserved communities