Burchard’s research highlighted in Newsweek
Esteban G. Burchard, MD, MPH, has been featured in Newsweek for his work studying genetic variation in asthma among minority populations. The article, titled “The Racial Discrimination Embedded in Modern Medicine,” was published online on October 20. It addresses issues such as racial health disparities, precision medicine, and the importance of including minorities in clinical research.
Researchers in the Burchard Lab—known as the Asthma Collaboratory—study the interplay between genes and their social and physical environments to determine the root causes of asthma health disparities. “His research shows that ethnicity is the most important factor in determining whether a patient will respond to asthma therapy—even more important than the severity of the disease or the patient’s socioeconomic status,” states Newsweek.
Burchard is a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, a joint department of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine.