Rueben Warren, DDS, DrPH

Dr. Warren discussed the close-knit community of his childhood in the Watts neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles and his higher education experiences at San Francisco State University, Meharry Medical College, Harvard University, and the Interdenominational Theological Center. He described being on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee, the 1997 apology from President Bill Clinton, and the subsequent establishment of the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Healthcare at Tuskegee University. While director, he shared how he focused on engaging descendants of the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study, established programming with Black church leaders, and developed a bioethics honors program. He described the need for institutions to prove their trustworthiness to gain community trust, particularly in healthcare settings.

He discussed working in the Office of Minority Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, where he investigated environmental harms and the disproportionate impact on low-income and minority communities. The Covid-19 pandemic occurred during his last years at Tuskegee and he shares that experience as why medical providers and bioethicists should examine the trustworthiness of institutions versus implicating vaccine-hesitant communities. The conversation ends with a comparison of the Human Genome Project to the work of the Diaspora Human Genomic Institute, emphasizing the importance of involving Black scientists and communities in data collection, preservation, and analysis.