UNC Hospitals Transplant Team, UNC Health Nephrologists and Equity & Inclusion Department Reduce Disparities for Black Community

April is Minority Health Month, a month to raise awareness about the need to reduce health disparities and improve the health of minority communities. The UNC Health Center for Transplant Care team and UNC Health nephrologists recently increased equitable access for the Black community by addressing and fixing a disparity among kidney transplant patients. UNC Health Center for Transplant Care The UNC Health Center for Transplant Care team at the UNC Medical Center recently collaborated with UNC Health nephrologists to ensure Black patients received equitable access to kidney transplants. Before the policy was implemented, the estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) – a tool used by kidney transplant programs to measure a patient’s kidney function – included a race-based coefficient, which consistently assigned a higher eGFR to patients who identify as Black or African American. Patients who have an eGFR of 20 or below are eligible for a kidney transplant, but this race coefficient systematically resulted in a higher eGFR for Black patients, potentially delaying referrals for transplant on the transplant waiting list. Keisha Gibson, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine and pediatrics, chief of pediatric nephrology in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the UNC School of Medicine “Black...