Former Ohio State faculty member and alum Dr. Quinn Capers to share insights on racial biases in medicine Thursday

Dr. Quinn Capers, a former Ohio State faculty member and alum, will give a lecture about enhancing diversity and reducing racial bias in medicine at the Ross Heart Hospital Auditorium Thursday.

The event — set to begin at 4:30 p.m. — will mark the eighth installment of a “Last Lecture Series” hosted by the Health Sciences Library’s Medical Heritage Center, which has partnered with the medical honorary society Courage to Teach. The series invites guest speakers from Ohio State to give one lecture as if it were their last, according to the Health Science Library’s website .

Dr. Capers — currently a professor of medicine at Howard University College of Medicine, as well as the college’s chair of the Department of Medicine — said his work battling racial health disparities was one of the first topics that came to mind when he was initially approached about participating in the “Last Lecture Series.”

“Healthcare disparities are when people with the same medical problem get different levels of treatment, and in our country, we have a problem with racial health disparities in particular — and so that’s what I’ve spent my career trying to fight,” Dr. Capers said.

For Dr. Capers, 10 years of that fight was spent as the associate dean for admissions at The Ohio State College of Medicine. From 2009 to 2019, Dr. Capers, alongside his team, worked to target racial biases within the admissions team and strategize how to minimize them.

“There’s a lot of room for bias in the admissions process, if you think about it,” Dr. Capers said.

Dr. Capers identified factors such as race, gender, religion, sexuality and physical characteristics — like weight, hair color and facial features — as elements in applications that can trigger biases when being reviewed.

Through extensive research and education, Dr. Capers said his team’s efforts were successful, increasing the rate of students from groups “underrepresented in medicine” — comprising racial, gender and sexual minorities — who enrolled in the college from 13% to 26%.

Dr. Capers’ expertise and values regarding medical practice, overall medical education and professional ethics are what pushed event organizers to gain interest in his perspective and ultimately choose him as a speaker, Kristin Rodgers, collections curator for the Health Sciences Library’s Medical Heritage Center, said.

“The main takeaway from these lecture series, for me, has been to acquire a greater understanding of the careers of those who have provided the lecture,” Rodgers said. “Every speaker has a different perspective and experience as a physician.”

Though a large part of the lecture will focus on pinpointing and combating racial biases and disparities, Dr. Capers said he will also discuss how to begin such conversations, especially with those who may be unfamiliar with or sheltered from the concept at hand.

“I think most people are OK with grasping the concept that you are most comfortable around people that are like you, and the opposite is also true,” Dr. Capers said. “That discomfort can lead us to treat people differently, even if the bias against them is not in our conscious control.”

Having lived, worked and learned within the medical field for a majority of his career, Dr. Capers said he doesn’t allow the racial biases and health disparities he experiences slow him down. Still, by recognizing not every individual may have that same privilege, he hopes this lecture will help educate others on how to reduce such roadblocks.

“I felt like I needed to be a mentor, and a proctor to others, and a kind of activist to help people and an advisor to people that are coming up against the obstacles,” Dr. Capers said. “I’ve always felt like I’m on this mission, and nothing will stop me.”

To register for Dr. Capers’ lecture, visit the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s website .