August 27, 2025
Who Gets the Best Care? Dr. Utibe Essien on Health Disparities, Equity, and Revolutionizing Care
Treated with Dr. Sara SzalAbout this episode
Even though we all operate under the same medical system in The United States, not all of us receive the same quality of care. Why do racial and economic disparities still dictate who gets access to life-saving medications? Dr. Utibe Essien joins Treated to explore what true equity in medicine looks like and how we can build a system where everyone has the chance to thrive. Dr. Essien is a board-certified internal medicine physician, Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCLA, and a nationally recognized health disparities researcher. He coined the term pharmaco-equity–the principle that every patient, regardless of race, income, or background, deserves equal access to effective medications. In this conversation, he shares his story of being born into health disparities, what inspired him to become a physician, and his groundbreaking research on racial inequities in prescribing practices. Dr. Sara and Dr. Essien unpack the roots of health inequity, the ripple effects of systemic racism in medicine, and how landmark moments like the murder of George Floyd reshaped the medical community’s response to equity. To conclude, they discuss the power of mentorship, the future of precision equity, and how research can move beyond data to real interventions that save lives. // RESOURCES // ACE Quiz The landmark 2021 article on pharmacoequity in the Journal of the American Medical Association . : Essien, Utibe R., Stacie B. Dusetzina, and Walid F. Gellad. "A Policy Prescription for Reducing Health Disparities—Achieving Pharmacoequity." JAMA 326, no. 18 (2021): 1793–1794. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.17764. Pharmacoequity Article: https://www.statnews.com/2021/07/28/pharmacoequity-new-goal-ending-disparities-us-health-care/ The Sum of Us by Heather McGee // LEARN MORE FROM DR. UTIBE ESSIEN // Visit his website uessien.com . Follow him on Instagram, @uressienmd . // KEEP IN TOUCH WITH DR. SARA // If you have a question, leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/treated Follow on IG: @saragottfriedmd @treatedwithdrsara Watch Treated on YouTube Produced by Dear Media . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .