6th Annual Beyond the Knife: How Do We Balance the Scales of Health Equity?
- martafit
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
"This is everyone’s problem. This is not just the problem of the disenfranchised and the disadvantaged." Andrea Hayes-Dixon, MD Dean, Howard University College of Medicine
Keynote Speaker:
Andrea A. Hayes-Dixon, MD, FACS, FAAP
Dean of the Howard University College of Medicine and Member of the National Academy of Medicine
Panel:
Moderated by Claudine Ewing, Channel 2 News anchor
Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Andrea Hayes-Dixon, MD
Thomas J. Ward Jr., PhD, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Farmingdale State College
Jamal B. Williams, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Jacobs School
Rhonda Wilson, founder and president of Buffalo Black Nurses.
When a young man in his early 30s arrived in Andrea Hayes-Dixon’s clinic, he had already heard what he believed was the end of his story. The African American patient had abdominal cancer and had been told by other physicians that it was stage 4 and incurable. Hospice care, they said, was the only realistic option.
But when Andrea Hayes-Dixon reviewed his records, she saw something different. His cancer was stage 2 - serious, but treatable. She began outlining a plan that included surgery and chemotherapy.
The patient was stunned. A treatment plan? He had been preparing to die.
Hayes-Dixon was equally taken aback. It wasn’t the first time she had encountered a case like this — patients, often uninsured or covered by Medicaid or Medicare, told they wouldn’t survive treatment and should simply “go home.” These patterns, she has said, reflect deep inequities in the health care system — inequities she believes must be dismantled.
Hayes-Dixon, now dean of the College of Medicine at Howard University College of Medicine, delivered the keynote address at this year’s Beyond the Knife lecture on Feb. 5 at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Her career is marked by firsts. In 2022, she became the first Black woman to serve as dean of the College of Medicine in Howard University’s 154-year history. Nearly two decades earlier, in 2004, she became the first African American woman in the United States to earn board certification in pediatric surgery.
Now in its sixth year, the Beyond the Knife endowed lecture — organized by the Jacobs School’s Department of Surgery — focuses on confronting systemic racism and structural inequality in medicine.
Steven D. Schwaitzberg, MD, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and chair of surgery, opened the evening before a full audience at the M&T Auditorium. He reflected on the persistence of inequity, noting that changing terminology or policies alone cannot resolve deeper issues of fairness and justice.
Among those attending was U.S. Rep. Tim Kennedy, who highlighted Buffalo’s long-standing leadership in advancing health equity — efforts that contributed to the creation of the UB Community Health Equity Research Institute. He emphasized that equitable access to health care is foundational to saving lives.
Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School, described inequity as the result of systemic decisions and structures. She underscored the institution’s commitment to addressing those disparities and strengthening the health of Western New York. The lecture, she noted, is meant to provoke honest conversations about uncomfortable but necessary truths.
At the start of her remarks, Hayes-Dixon offered her definition of health equity: ensuring that a person’s ZIP code, race, ethnicity, gender, or religious beliefs do not determine their health outcomes.
Drawing from more than 20 years in academic medicine, she shared examples of unequal care, including the young man whose cancer stage had been misrepresented. She stressed that health equity is not solely a concern for the uninsured or underinsured. Hospital closures, workforce shortages, and resource gaps ultimately affect entire communities.
Health professionals, she argued, play a critical role in advancing equity because they are the ones directly interacting with patients. Research also shows that trust in physicians can increase when providers reflect the communities they serve.
Hayes-Dixon also turned her focus to physician training. As a historically Black institution, Howard University has long been instrumental in educating Black physicians. Still, she emphasized that responsibility for diversifying the workforce cannot rest solely on historically Black colleges and universities.
She cited data indicating that Black residents are dismissed from training programs at significantly higher rates than their white peers — Black surgical trainees six times more likely, and Black anesthesiology residents ten times more likely. Such disparities, she said, undermine years of investment and effort.
Strengthening the pipeline must begin even earlier. Hayes-Dixon described outreach initiatives at Howard that introduce elementary school students to medicine and science, with the goal of nurturing interest long before college.
Even so, she acknowledged that measurable progress will require clearer metrics and sustained effort. Significant challenges remain.
Prior to the lecture, Hayes-Dixon met with medical students to discuss her surgical career and her work treating desmoplastic small round cell tumors (DSRCT), an aggressive and rare abdominal cancer that disproportionately affects African Americans.
She spoke candidly about resistance she faced while developing new surgical approaches. As a Black woman proposing novel techniques, she said, her ideas were not immediately embraced.
Over time, however, she pioneered methods that allow surgeons to remove hundreds — sometimes thousands — of tumors from the abdomen and pelvis without sacrificing vital organs. Combined with heated chemotherapy delivered during surgery, these strategies have improved survival outcomes for patients with DSRCT.
Following her keynote, a panel discussion explored topics including leadership pathways, retention strategies, integrating community voices, and the historical roots of health disparities. The conversation was moderated by Claudine Ewing and featured Brashear; Hayes-Dixon; Thomas J. Ward Jr., PhD, dean of arts and sciences at Farmingdale State College; Jamal B. Williams, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Jacobs School; and Rhonda Wilson, founder and president of Buffalo Black Nurses.
Together, the evening’s speakers underscored a shared message: achieving equity in health care requires sustained commitment, structural change, and collective responsibility.
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