NIH doctors earn Sammies finalist honors for addressing higher COVID-19 rates among minorities

June 17, 2021

For a variety of reasons, many Black, Latino, Native American and other minorities had higher rates of COVID-19 – contracting it and being hospitalized – than the national average. Last summer, Dr. Gary Gibbons decided to do something about it. He’s the director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and he’s a finalist in this year’s Service to America Medals (Sammies), along with Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Gibbons spoke to Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more.