Feature | Championing Change: Herman Taylor on Improving Heart Health For All

Taylor receiving ACC's 2024 Pamela S. Douglas Award for Diversity and Inclusion at ACC.24 in Atlanta, GA.
Herman A. Taylor's, MD, FACC, pioneering career in cardiovascular medicine has been characterized by a lot of change, but his commitment to improving the health of all patients has remained constant, thanks in part to his grandmother who reminded him early in his career that health is one of life's greatest blessings. Cardiology spoke with Taylor about the changes he's experienced, some of his biggest accomplishments, and his advice for the next generation of clinicians and researchers.
Getting Started
From his early days as a family doctor with the National Health Service Corps in the Liberty City section of Miami, FL, to being the first Black cardiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to his role as principal investigator and founding director of the Jackson Heart Study in the late 1990s, Taylor was increasingly driven to rectify the disparities in the health status of African Americans and raise the health status of all Americans regardless of ethnicity.
"Throughout my career there has been the convergence of commitment and serendipity," says Taylor. "Once I became aware of the disparities that exist in health and health care. I realized I had to try and do my part to address this urgent public health need. I've been blessed to have opportunities arise that totally resonated with my personal and career values."
According to Taylor, he wouldn't trade any of the experiences that have placed him where he is today. "From making house calls in Liberty City, to interventional cardiology, to community health, it's all been enriching and meaningful along the way," he says.
The Jackson Heart Study
The Jackson Heart Study is among Taylor's greatest accomplishments, remaining one of the most significant community-based longitudinal studies of cardiovascular health and disease in the Black population nearly 20 years later.
"Jackson Heart Study was, of course, a huge labor of love and a huge team effort," says Taylor. "I spent 14 years of my career on the study and I'm incredibly proud of my role in it, working alongside the Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson State University, Tougaloo College and more recently, the Mississippi Department of Health."
According to Taylor, the study is evolving transgenerational interventions for improving the health of Black people through its research, education and community engagement efforts. "Mississippi has unfortunately been the epicenter for the cardiovascular epidemic in the U.S. with some of the poorest overall statistics for Blacks and Whites, he says. "The Jackson Heart Study is helping us learn more granular truths about an array of contributors to the problem and identify long-term solutions."
In addition to improving health, Taylor says one of the other downstream benefits of the study is the number of Jackson Heart Scholars: students involved with it over time who are now practicing cardiologists, pediatricians, immunologists, researchers and more. "These are young, mostly African American leaders who will continue to emerge and assume leadership roles with a unique level of sophistication about the underpinnings of health disparities and health inequities," he notes. "The Jackson Heart Study produced important science but is also producing important people."
Access For All
"We have a lot of work still ahead of us, particularly at a time when words like diversity and equity have become controversial in some quarters," says Taylor. He highlights the importance of involving patients in their care decisions and continuing efforts to foster and grow the next generation of cardiovascular clinicians who are representative of the "global family" in need of care.
"No ethnicity is monolithic, so you have to approach your patients with a sense of humility, and you need to listen and understand their attitudes and experiences," he says. "The need for diversity in the profession is also an important part of good health care, with numerous publications pointing to the important role that ethnic diversity among care givers plays in improving the actual health outcomes of individuals."
In his current role as director of the Morehouse School of Medicine's Cardiovascular Research Institute, Taylor is also looking at future research, including increasing the diversity of those participating in clinical trials, as well as those conducting the trials themselves. Exploring the role of innovations like artificial intelligence and machine learning in helping to improve access and address disparities is also key. "As time goes forward, we also need to understand resilience in the face of challenge and adversity – whether it presents as cardiovascular risk or other, possibly socially-based adversity. We've got some early results that point to some important takeaways and lessons learned."
Beyond the clinical, educating residents and fellows about bias and the benefits of a diverse workforce are also important, as is advocating for policies that can lead to more equitable access to care and mitigate the burden of disease.
"I think we need to speak up as leaders. We're well trained and well respected and we need to use these aspects of who we are as cardiologists to further equity and care for all," he says.
Taylor offers the following tips and lessons learned to incoming leaders and early career professionals:
- Follow your passion.
- Believe in your abilities and bring not only your training, but your unique lived experiences to the table.
- Seek an environment that will allow you to grow and have the impact that you envision.
- Be flexible and allow for serendipity. There's a lot of opportunity and variety in cardiology.
- Be a lifelong student.
- Build a network of mentors and peers to sustain your personal and professional growth.
- Bring humility as well as partnership into your interactions with patients and with colleagues.
Learn More: Health Equity Cases
Click here for ACC's free online course, Challenges in Contemporary Cardiac Care: A Case-Based Module and its 15 health equity cases aimed at improving health care for all.
Keywords: Cardiology Magazine, ACC Publications, Health Status, Ethnic Groups, Public Health