MIT FOREFRONT

Disrupting the Inequalities of Covid-19 in Work and Health Care

September 24, 2020

Covid-19 didn’t create inequities in health care and work—but it made them worse.

On September 24, a distinguished panel of academic and industry leaders probed longstanding inequalities in health care access and the workplace, sharing their perspectives and solutions.

Read the white paper and the MIT News recap of the event.

MIT Forefront’s inaugural session focused on new strategies to create a more equitable future of work and health care.

Mariana Matus PhD ’18 and Newsha Ghaeli, Biobot Analytics cofounders, opened the event by explaining how their innovative technology creates real-time public health profiles of urban areas by sampling community wastewater to track the spread of Covid-19. Learn more in the first few minutes of the event video (above) and read about their work in The New Yorker or watch a Bloomberg Business report.

Presenters

L. Rafael Reif

Host

L. Rafael Reif

MIT President

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Eric Schmidt

Moderator

Eric Schmidt

Former CEO and Chairman, Google; Co-founder, Schmidt Futures

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Daron Acemoglu

Panelist

Daron Acemoglu

MIT Institute Professor, Department of Economics

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Ursula Burns

Panelist

Ursula Burns

Senior Advisor, Teneo Ltd.; Retired Chairman and CEO of VEON Ltd.; Retired Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation; Member, MIT Corporation

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James Manyika

Panelist

James Manyika

Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; Chairman and Director, McKinsey Global Institute

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Indra Nooyi

Panelist

Indra Nooyi

Former Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo; Co-chair, Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group; Member, MIT Corporation

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Bruce Walker, MD

Panelist

Bruce Walker, MD

Director, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard; Professor of the Practice, MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science

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Newsha Ghaeli

Today's Innovators Presentation

Newsha Ghaeli

President & Cofounder, Biobot Analytics

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Mariana Matus PhD ’18

Today's Innovators Presentation

Mariana Matus PhD ’18

CEO & Cofounder, Biobot Analytics

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Resources

Leading the way forward in the era of Covid-19:
A white paper from MIT Forefront

In September 2020, six months into the Covid-19 pandemic’s devastating impact on the United States, MIT launched a live, online discussion series, MIT Forefront, aimed at finding solutions to urgent global problems. The inaugural session, “Disrupting the Inequalities of Covid-19 in Work and Health Care,” included business and policy leaders as well as MIT experts in economics and medicine. This white paper captures the discussion on the inequities in the worlds of work and health care that have been exacerbated by the pandemic and offers ideas and possible solutions.

Colleges Learn How to Suppress Coronavirus: Extensive Testing (October 2, 2020)

More than 100 colleges in New England have partnered with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to test their students and staff. Learn more in this New York Times article (subscription required).

The Pandemic and the Parent Trap (September 16, 2020)

Covid-19 and a tough economy have thrown the postwar home-making era into reverse. In this Financial Times article, Indra Nooyi comments on the role of extended family networks in leveling the gender playing field at work (subscription required).

Reimagine with Eric Schmidt: The Future of Medicine (September 15, 2020)

In this episode of Eric Schmidt’s Reimagine podcast, two trail-blazing MIT scientists, Aviv Regev and Jim Collins, discuss their breakthrough work in cell biology, inventing new viral tests, and harnessing advanced computing to unlock new frontiers in the fight against disease.

MIT Lecture: Bruce Walker on Covid-19 and the Pandemic (September 1, 2020)

A new MIT Department of Biology course on Covid-19 brings together top experts on up-to-date pandemic science. In the first lecture, MIT scientist and physician Bruce Walker explores the evolution of Covid-19.

Covid-19 Is Dividing the American Worker (August 22, 2020)

The rapid adoption of remote work and automation could accelerate inequalities in place for decades. Research of MIT experts Daron Acemoglu and David Autor and Elisabeth Reynolds sheds light on why the resulting “K” shaped recovery may be good for professionals—and bad for everyone else. Read more in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

Behind the Scenes of Broad Institute Covid-19 Test Processing (July 15, 2020)

Since March, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has steadily increased the pace and scale of diagnostic testing, while also developing test protocols that make them easier to administer and process, all at a low cost. This video provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Broad’s Covid‑19 diagnostic process.

Ursula Burns Says Pandemic Is Chance to Reset Racial Conversation in Workplace (June 5, 2020)

Ursula Burns believes the Covid-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to reset the conversation around racial inequality in the job market. Watch the video on "Bloomberg Markets: What'd You Miss?"

Covid-19 and Jobs: Monitoring the US Impact on People and Places (April 29, 2020)

As Americans grapple with the mounting death toll, they are also coping with Covid-19's toll on jobs—permanent layoffs, temporary furloughs, or reductions in hours and pay. This McKinsey Global Institute article, coauthored by James Manyika, analyzes the cascading effects of losses associated with the initial shutdown.

MIT News Covid-19 Articles

Follow the latest MIT News stories focused on Covid-19.

“The pandemic has forced the nation to focus on deep, longstanding inequalities, from education, housing, and transportation, to health care and work ….”

-L. Rafael Reif

“How do we reopen in such a way that people don’t get sick … the economy comes back, and our vulnerable get protected?”

-Eric Schmidt

“We have to find ways of rebuilding the economy by leveling the playing field between capital and labor.”

-Daron Acemoglu

“In many ways, the pandemic is helping to catalyze and to give strength … to voices that were ignored before.”

-Ursula Burns

“It’s important to remember that even before Covid, even though we’d had job growth, we had a very polarized labor market.”

-James Manyika

“There’s got to be a realistic perspective given to people that it’s not about lives OR livelihoods; it’s lives AND livelihoods.”

-Indra Nooyi

“There’s a lesson to be learned from the HIV epidemic … we don’t have a vaccine, but it’s a treatable disease.”

-Bruce Walker, MD

“Biobot Analytics is a wastewater epidemiology company. Our vision is to make public health more proactive, more data driven, and more equitable.”

-Newsha Ghaeli

“We have now produced data on close to 10% of the US population … represented by hundreds of communities across 43 states.”

-Mariana Matus PhD ’18