Takeda's Lauren Powell, MPA, PhD, Outlines Partnership With Xavier University of Louisiana

In April, Takeda announced a multi-year, multi-million dollar investment in Xavier University of Louisiana to pursue T-REX, the university’s new center for technical research and exchange that will include health informatics, research findings and interventions to improve health outcomes and well-being.

Xavier University, which will mark its centennial in 2025, is located in New Orleans and is the nation’s only historically Black and Catholic university. In a city and state that for generations has been marked by unequal health care treatment for White and Black patients, Xavier rose to become a national leader in educating the largest number of Black undergraduates who have gone on to become doctors and pharmacists.

The American Journal of Managed Care interviewed Lauren Powell, MPA, PhD, vice president, US Health Equity & Community Wellness at Takeda, and Xavier Provost Anne McCall, PhD, about the partnership. Segments from these interview will appear over the next two weeks; the first segment appears today. An article on the partnership will appear in the August issue of Evidence-Based Oncology, which is a special issue on topics in health equity.

AJMC®: Can you give us an overview of the T-REX initiative that Takeda is undertaking with Xavier University of Louisiana?

Powell: We are so excited about the T-REX initiative that we're pursuing and in partnership, and to support Xavier University of Louisiana. The T-REX initiative is really focused [as] an extension of Xavier's focus on health equity, and really expanding opportunities for students there to further their learning on areas such as health informatics, on leveraging data to achieve health equity, and further opportunities to connect with the community that already has a deep trust for Xavier.

AJMC®: Xavier has been known for decades as a national leader in educating future Black physicians and black pharmacists, and is also a trusted institution in a city where Black Americans (for good reason) have had cause to not trust the medical establishment. How did these factors weigh into educators decision to partner with Xavier?

Powell: Historic mistrust is something that continues to impact Black and Brown communities in particular. We can think about several examples from history as well as even present examples—right now and in real time—that still continue to give communities cause to not trust, the medical establishment in general. And so in thinking about how important our health equity work is here, and one of the very important foundations of our health equity work being around trust, we really wanted to partner with an organization that is seen as very trustworthy by Black and Brown communities. We know that Xavier University of Louisiana is one of those [institutions] that is deeply trusted by the New Orleans community, by the larger Louisiana community, by the Deeper South, and the entire Southern and Gulf Coast region. And we wanted to pursue a partnership with the experts on how to build trust. We see opportunities to learn from failure—and that deeply motivated our desire to want to learn from them and to want to partner with them on this initiative.