WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Minority Quality Forum opened the first day of its 2026 Leadership Summit on Health Disparities and Health Braintrust on April 27 with a full-day program centered on access, public trust, data, prevention, and the persistent gaps that shape health outcomes for communities of color.

Held at the Conrad Washington, DC, the summit’s Day 1 agenda ran from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and brought together physicians, policymakers, researchers, advocates, public health leaders, and community organizations for a series of discussions on how the health system can better reach people who have historically been left out of high-quality care. The day began with welcome remarks from faith, medical and policy leaders, including Rev. Antoine T. Colvin; NMQF President and CEO Gary A. Puckrein, PhD; Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust Chairwoman Robin L. Kelly, PhD; American Medical Association President Bobby Mukkamala, MD; National Medical Association President-Elect Brandi K. Freeman, MD, MS, and National Hispanic Medical Association President Gilbert Burgos, MD, MPH.

NMQF said the 2026 summit theme, “ACCESS: Advancing Community-Centered Care through Environment Sensitive Standards,” is grounded in the organization’s Physical Laws Framework and is intended to move health equity discussions toward practical solutions that account for the conditions in which people live, work, and receive care. In announcing the agenda, NMQF said the summit would focus on translating research into real-world impact, examining the role of environment and biology in shaping outcomes, and expanding equitable access for communities disproportionately affected by disease.

The first morning session, “From the Research Lab to the Hospital Bed: Making Healthcare Accessible to Everyone at Every Stage,” set the tone for the day by focusing on the distance between innovation and patient access. The panel brought together leaders from Hologic, the National Consumers League, the National Hispanic Health Foundation, Choose Healthy Life, and PhRMA, reflecting a broader summit emphasis on making scientific progress meaningful for patients whose care is often delayed by geography, cost, mistrust, or fragmented systems.

That theme carried into a session on vaccination and community immunity, where speakers addressed one of the most visible public health challenges in the country: rebuilding confidence while ensuring access. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified vaccine equity strategies that include increasing access, confidence, and demand in communities with low vaccination coverage; measuring differences in uptake; and working with local and national partners to implement effective vaccination strategies.

Day 1 also placed women’s health at the center of the health equity conversation. The session “Her Health Journey: Care, Screening, and Strength at Every Stage” focused on screening, prevention, and care across the lifespan. The HHS Office of Minority Health notes that screening for breast and cervical cancer is key to identifying health problems early and ensuring women receive needed treatment, while also reporting that the 2022 maternal mortality rate for Black women was more than twice the national rate.

The summit’s continuing medical education sessions broadened the conversation beyond patient access to the health care workforce itself. A session on burnout addressed strain across the healthcare spectrum, while a separate “Food As Medicine” discussion examined nutrition as a clinical and public health intervention. The American Medical Association reported that 41.9% of physicians experienced at least one symptom of burnout in 2025, down from recent years but still high enough to remain a workforce and patient-care concern.

Food access was also framed as a health equity issue, not only a social service concern. A 2025 American Public Health Association report described Food is Medicine as an approach that integrates nutrition interventions such as produce prescriptions, medically tailored meals, and medically tailored groceries into care to prevent, manage, and treat diet-related chronic diseases. The report also noted that people of color are disproportionately affected by chronic diseases because of structural inequities, making nutrition-based interventions especially relevant to equity-focused health systems.

In the afternoon, Day 1 moved into some of the most urgent data and research questions facing minority health. A session on Alzheimer’s disease examined diagnostic gaps, with speakers from NMQF, AlzinColor, Morehouse School of Medicine, the Alzheimer’s Association, and Biogen. Federal research has found that Black and Hispanic older adults experience a disproportionate burden of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, while barriers such as underdiagnosis, lack of culturally competent care, and underrepresentation in clinical trials continue to complicate timely diagnosis and treatment.

Another afternoon panel examined implementation of Statistical Policy Directive 15, or SPD 15, and the importance of more detailed race and ethnicity data. The Office of Management and Budget’s revised SPD 15 standards, effective March 28, 2024, are intended to produce more accurate and useful federal race and ethnicity data. The revisions include a combined race and ethnicity question, a new Middle Eastern or North African minimum reporting category, and a requirement for more detailed data collection beyond minimum categories unless an exemption is granted.

Clinical trial representation also emerged as a major Day 1 priority. The session “Clinical Trials: Current Gaps and How to Fix Them” featured leaders from the Black Women’s Health Imperative, NMQF, Cedar Health Research, Genentech, and Ardelyx. The discussion aligned with ongoing federal attention to diversity in clinical studies; FDA draft guidance describes the form, content, and submission process for diversity action plans intended to improve enrollment of underrepresented populations in clinical studies.

The day concluded with a town hall and dinner titled “The ‘State’ of Public Health,” moderated by Ashley Etienne and featuring public health leaders from the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland. The closing discussion underscored a central message of the summit’s opening day: improving health outcomes requires more than medical discovery. It requires trusted messengers, better data, stronger community partnerships, sustainable workforce solutions, and policies that make high-quality care reachable for the people most likely to be missed.

NMQF’s public gallery includes a 2026 Leadership Summit album with more than 1,200 photos, extending the day’s conversations beyond the ballroom and documenting the national network of leaders working to advance health equity. As Day 1 made clear, the challenge ahead is not simply to identify disparities but to build systems capable of closing them.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GGjq71G8lU

Image gallery: https://nmqf.org/gallery/

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