New U.S. health equity collaboration aims to improve health outcomes in New Orleans 

For many patients, health and well-being is inextricably tied to their geography, finances, education, age, race, ethnicity, gender and orientation. Often though, health inequities – which particularly affect marginalized and underserved populations – are a result of decades of systemic injustices. To help change this and create health equity to empower the best outcomes for all patients, our actions must be focused and intentional. This starts with purposeful listening, understanding, and reflecting on the needs of individuals, groups, and cultures who make up the diverse communities that have been most impacted.

In an effort to build relationships and trust within communities, we’ve partnered with Xavier University of Louisiana to help advance health equity.

“We are excited to support Xavier University of Louisiana on this first of its kind partnership with Takeda as a way to put our commitment to health equity into action," said Lauren Powell, M.P.A., Ph.D., vice president of U.S. Health Equity & Community Wellness at Takeda. “We look forward to this purposeful collaboration and the ways that we can benefit from learning from the true experts on how to build trust and lay the foundation to continue to advance health equity for generations to come. We were very intentional with our efforts in selecting the right partner and recognize Xavier as the historical incubator for future Black and Brown health professionals and as a community pillar for change in Louisiana.”

Driving community wellness

As part of this partnership, we’ll provide a grant to support Xavier’s plans to develop a technical research and exchange center (T-REX) which will focus on the overall improvement of health outcomes for disadvantaged and marginalized populations. The goal of T-REX is to build community wellness by expanding the use of health informatics and research, developing curriculum to help destigmatize participation in clinical trials and providing dedicated resources to enhance Xavier’s STEM and health science programs.

This is also an opportunity for us to learn from Xavier about ways to continue building trust by partnering with experts within these communities. Over time, we hope to create generational wellness through equity powered systems of change for historically excluded communities.

Creating lasting impact through a community-centered approach

We chose to partner with Xavier University of Louisiana on this initiative because of their long-standing history of improving the community of New Orleans. Together, we hope to move the health equity needle in meaningful ways across Louisiana – a state that has sat at the bottom of nearly every measurable health metric, ranking well below the national average for years.

This partnership exemplifies our community-centered approach to health equity and aligns with our core values to put patients first and provide safe, accessible healthcare for everyone, no matter their circumstances. Our partnership with Xavier University of Louisiana represents the first of many multi-year collaborations that centers our commitment to health equity in theory and in action. This is the beginning of long term, multi-pronged partnerships with trusted organizations that allow us to codesign lasting solutions to deliver better health and a brighter future for the world.

Learn more about this partnership here.