The Urgent Need to Advance Health Equity: Past and Present

I n 2020, the convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and a na- tional reckoning on racial injustice in the United States highlighted pervasive disparities, including glaring gaps in health care access and outcomes.1 But these disparities are generational, 2 and serious concerns about inequities in health outcomes had been raised on numerous previous occasions by a wide range of federal and public health organizations.Nearly 40 years ago, then Secretary of Health and Human Services, Margaret Heckler, was compelled to convene a national Task Force on Black and Minority Health in response to her concern over health disparities.3 Despite overall improvements in the multiple critical health metrics the U.S. had experienced, including infant mortality and life expectancy, she wrote: "But, and that "but" signaled a sad and