Multicultural Health Equity Collective
Established in 2014, The Pfizer Multicultural Health Equity Collective (The Collective) is a cooperative of Pfizer colleagues and 40+ diverse nonprofit community partners, healthcare professionals and advocates across the United States. The Collective aims to close gaps in care and access impacting historically underserved and underrepresented communities while addressing drivers of health inequities in healthcare, including systemic racism.
Read More About The Collective DetailsPfizer Multicultural Advisory Council
The Collective’s work is guided by the Pfizer Multicultural Advisory Council (PMAC). The PMAC includes leaders from partner organizations who help inform The Collective’s priorities, engage with Pfizer on vital health and policy issues, and provide counsel on specific Pfizer initiatives.
Our Focus Areas
To make lasting impact, The Collective seeks to harness the power of community relationships and work with those who have a deep-rooted understanding of their evolving needs. Building on community insights to accelerate progress, The Collective is focused on pursuing evidence-informed solutions across four key impact areas:
HEALTHCARE FACILITIES & DELIVERY
Helping to build community-centered healthcare delivery systems.
RESEARCH & DATA
Addressing racial biases embedded into algorithms and promoting data disaggregation to gain greater insight into the health needs of underrepresented populations.
WORKFORCE PATHWAYS
Fostering young talent and early education systems to create a pipeline for a more diverse and representative health workforce.
POLICY
Advancing local, state, county and federal policies addressing systemic racism in healthcare.
Explore how The Collective is partnering to advance health equity.
With support from The Pfizer Multicultural Health Equity Collective and in partnership with the National Collaborative for Health Equity, NORC at the University of Chicago conducted a national survey of nearly 500 health-focused community-based organizations working to advance health equity. The survey revealed persistent and systemic challenges, including unstable funding and underinvestment in organizational capacity, providing insights to strengthen support for CBOs and enhance their impact.
The Collective has partnered with a working group of more than 30 individuals to co-author ‘An Action Guide to Disrupt Inequitable Health Outcomes’ highlighting actionable solutions to disrupt drivers of health inequities across four key areas – Healthcare Facilities & Delivery, Research & Data, Workforce Pathways, and Policy.
(Photo Credit: Stillman College)
In 2025, The Collective’s Communities Forward grant program awarded seven nonprofit organizations a total of $1.75 million to support community-centered projects that address preventable health disparities in historically marginalized and underserved populations.
Building on the 2024 Communities in Action for Health Equity grants program launched by The Collective and Pfizer’s Institute of Translational Equitable Medicine (ITEM), the awarded projects are focusing on community-led solutions across healthcare facilities and delivery, research and data, workforce pathways, and policy.
(Photo Credit: 100 Black Men of America)
Since 2014, The Collective partners have hosted 715+ community health engagement and outreach events, reaching 1.5 million people across the United States.
In 2020, The Collective partners helped inform and conduct community engagement in support of COVID-19 clinical trial diversity. Their participation helped to build trust and raise awareness among historically underrepresented communities in clinical trials through the development of culturally relevant education materials and grassroot efforts, which have also informed ongoing clinical trial diversity efforts.
Read more about this collaboration in The Collective Equity in Action: The Impact of Community Engagement on Diversity in a COVID-19 Clinical Trial White Paper.
(Pfizer colleagues and members of the Pfizer Multicultural Advisory Council at the Health Equity in Action Summit, 2024)
In 2024, The Collective co-convened its second Health Equity in Action Summit alongside Morehouse School of Medicine, National Association of County and City Health Officials, the National Caucus of Native American State Legislators, and The Century Foundation. The two-day, hybrid event held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, brought together cross-sector health equity leaders to discuss community-led, sustainable solutions to help advance health equity, including a day focused on supporting rising leaders in healthcare to explore careers in healthcare and connect with mentors.
Related Articles
