r?dney function has actually led

to black receiving worse care. it's delayed their referrals to nephrologists to kidney doctors. it's putting them on kidney transplant lists. so it's like it's just the problems compound each other right? but mean i think it's just like education is part areness is part of it. but the action we need like we need systemic change. yeah. one of the areas that you've talked about a lot on social media regarding inferior because

of racism it's like black issues, the mortality rates whatnot. there's a section in your book you talk about how many of us lives have been saved moved by black women advocating for themselves. like you mentioned, serena williams, beyoncé, which would be examples how wealth and fame do not you from racism right. so i, i know that a lot of people when they meet with their medical professionals are like nervous and and intimidated. how, how, how do you what would you say up, i want to push back? i'm scared to like, how do i do? okay so i kind of have a little difficult that because i feel like that shouldn't be our burden. mm hmm. like the fact that we have to, like, arm ourselves to go into a setting where. we are feeling vulnerable or we're in pain or discomfort, and we have to think about this like that just hurts me. yeah. let so. but obviously, you know, there

are things people, you know, always say there things people can do. but still the system has to change, you know? you know, i always say that, you know, bring a loved one. so actually i don't know. people saw there was this viral video by actually a white a white physician who wanted to know why his black patients often have faced time on during their visits with him. it's because they don't trust you and they want help. but but also it's because they you know they're it's probably a loved one a partner or, you know, a good friend who's there for support, you know. so i always say people should bring honestly, i have no problem. people want to bring other people to the world, like bring could bring you every want you as long as we have room but bring bring whoever you need who can you help support? you provide moral support or help you ask the questions that you want to ask. and honestly, i don't have problems with people doing research before they come, like if you want to go, i just, you know even though google can be a rabbit hole and i would be

scared. yes, but if you want if you want to do that. it's more power to you. but but also th issue like there are black founders entrepreneurs trying to address. so there's health in her, you know, have heard that that's an app. it's a it's a directory of not only black health professional, but but non-black health professionals who have committed to providing inclusive, you know, anti-racist care. and they they get continuing medical education around equity. there is the earth app that is more centered on maternal health that was founded kimberly seals that she's a black woman and that's how can find maternal health providers. so there are you know i feel like we're we are the ones that are trying find these solutions. in the book i write about the roots center in minneapolis in minneapolis as people know, you know, has like one of the highest, you know, racial, racial, health and equity ghing white

people. we're doing very, very poorly there. center in one of the most impoverished neighborhoods and a black midwife opened it up with the goal of providing people with with dignified aid and respectful care. it's so simple. but they've actually found, like they've done some preliminary studies that it's they've they've lowered the rates of preterm births. they've they've lowed maternal complications. so i think that we have to look at already community efforts or local efforts, hyper local efforts. you know, folks in our community are doing and find ways to support them. i think sometimes it can feel overwhelming what's happening. there are so many wonderful organizations there that we can support and feel like we're making a difference. yeah, no. i mean, one of the things i took from the book, which is very heavy is that you seem you seem hopeful inms go despite where things haven't been. i a lot of times you win a lot of bad hate email probably caused you angry and bitter and

all those in other words and other words say but what why do you have so much hope despite like what you see daily almost. because i love us. yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. that we deserve so much better. yeah, yeah, we deserve so much better. mean, you know what i think about, like because there's a there's a statistic that shows. immigrants when they come to this country, health outcomes are very similar to that white americans. but by the second generation they it starts decreasing. and by the third generation, it's like the same for black american. so there is something very, very toxic. we know what it is about in this country for black people and we deserve so much better. yeah. yeah. speaking of deserving, so much better. we got to touch on it. we're in an election year. i know. every year is an election year. now, it soundstalking health policy issues and politics. what are some of the issues that

you think need to be being discussed regarding? health care in america right now. that like nobody's talking about mean or not enough. sure. i mean, i think in terms of health care delivery, like reimbursement rates like there is very little incentive especially in like safety net hospitals like to stay to stay open to basically serve our communities. there's there's a lower rate of investment for for our communities, people who are on medicaid. and so i think that's an area that need to really, really look into. and so that would be what like hospitals in income neighborhoods have keeping funding being funded adequate so so so for example all suny downstate i don't know if people this but actually o close hospital because it's running like $100 million a year deficit but it's the only kidney transplant center in brooklyn and it's in a neighborhood there is are very high rates chronic of chronic kidney disease. yeah so it's like, you know

because have a for profit health care system. right. right. you know that's the priority is closing down this hospital. it's the health of the community. so when a hospital closes like and it's the only provider of significant kidney care or what what do those patients do. right. exactly. they're saying that some of those patients would go to county, which is the public hospital across the street, which we know literally. i already in my book, it's overburdened there not enough staff to care for. and then some people may not even seek care. yeah, so we that it's going to be it's going to harm our community either way and then not seeking care it's already an issue. yes right. right for healthiest. yes. and you know i talk about and i rachel hardiman, who's who's at university of minnesota and syria ling, they write about this this idea of unmet needs in our community. and i write about this a little bit in book tha because because of how racism plays out, right?

just interpersonally and we are less likely to seek care. yeah. because we don't want to with with the health care establishment. and as a result of that we have a burden of unmet needs in our community. so even like we know that communities that have a high rate of interaction with the police so a.k.a, you know police brutality that people are likely to sk health care in those neighborhoods. and so it just bleedsah, a real blind spot for me as a journalist happened during covid as i shared i grew up here and had had black doctors and i didn't understand so many black people's fear of the doctor. and until people personal stories and when you hear some of the stories people have experienced, why would you go back? i mean, i am a black physicians or nurse practitioners or other professionals. i had a black doula. yeah it's so much you're trying

to avoid. yeah yeah. and receive, right? yeah right yea i mean i get i remember i had a a black primary care physician. she actually ended up retiring early because she was so burnt out, but literally we would, we would have her annual visits and would both be crying. no, we won'ti see you. you see me like, you know, like we get each, you know. and when i found that she retiring, i was so sad. the that used to work with her. but but still it's like and i know she burnt out early because she literally had such a high patient load because many patients wanted to see her. yeah, yeah. but i but i write about in the book during covid, i a patient an older black man, elderly black man, actually an urgent care who came in with a very low oxygen level, trouble breathing and. he did not want to go to the going to take care of me. and he, like he and i tried convince him and he and he never went. and i think there's there's so many people thatbly died during the pandemic that during the early, early days of the pandemic jus scare too

scared to go to the hospital. yeah. yeah well, we really appreciate everything you're doing to help ease so many fears on a day, day and in your work. it's social media, on air everything. yeah. thank you. have a million questions. i want to open it up to people here. i know there are some instructions. usually questions, but i think you have to get line and the mics are here here if and you get start, there's a mic here. if we can't, we can't pass around. but if you don't have questions i have questions. so it's not a problem for me. now, i heard you left, but one thing i will say respect fully please, please make sure your question is actually a question and going to have to tell them a dirty black audience. yeah yeah. and i'm going to be i mean, i know lots of us have like personal stories and there's there are some room for that. but if you can just make it as concise possible please do so. yeah but you could tell us your

name and where you're from. that be awesome. hi. i'm temporary. stephenson i'm from y. i'm from oklahoma, but live here in washington, dc. and i wanted to ask the question because i see a lot of common commonality issues that you address around health equity. having gone to tufts med and just seen the issues just across the country, but being able to education, my areas nutrition, boundaries of wanda women advancing nutrition dietetics and agriculture in the same issues around inequity around the nutrition and food space. i wonder have you come across that same issue as it relates to if you if you've touched on food and nutrition because. we know food as medicine is an issue within medical space and being able to not just offer the mediterranean diet as produce as a solution that's happening in the medical space and just seeing wondering if the centering of whiteness around food issues is popping up in medical schools as we provide

nutrition, education to. dr. no, no. i mean thank you. thank you for that. very thoughtful thoughtful question. and i definitely think i know of some medical schools that we've with that are addressing some of those issues, but they need to address them much, much more. i also think that, you kno you the way the medical schools operate, it's like that the paradigm is that, you know individuals individual choices account for how healthy are right when know that it's systemic factors or that there are more than 80% of what makes someone healthy. and so that's something that i've been trying to with some of our client organizations around. but i think your work is so much, much, much needed. so i hope that you can able to amplify to help you amplify that message. thank you so much. it's not just because people are exercising enough. no. yeah. right. can't like green drink your way. no right. and so that's why even like know we know that even access to health accounts for 20% of what makes someone healthy or

individual decisions about 30%. but even those 30% are, you know, what kind of food you eat? where do i live? where exactly exactly? hi i'm brenda barber. we're the body. well sisters we're such friends of yours, so thank for what you're doing. we can't wait to see you back. so one of the through lines on our which is about black women's health is not being listened to. so, you know, i appreciate being a fan get a black woman doctor, but that's not always possible. we hear every week when we're interviewing black women about their experiences in health system is having a hard time being listened to. and do you have any advice? know the system needs to be changed. i know, i know. i mean, i was i know. other than other than what i what i gave i think that. so i actually was doing this this campaign thing with advil around pain and equity and the same thing comes up when acrothe board with black patients, you know our pain often is ignored and dismissed. and one thing that we actually are working on with with medical

schools is developing a curriculum to address like, how are you with how are you listening to patients? how are you talking to patients? the fact that we actually have to do this is ridiculous, but we actually have to call it out explicitly. so we're developing campaigns in morehouse school of medicine and curriculum around that. but i know these individual things that i think that people can do. but yes, but they're not always successful, which is why people face, don't you think, face time during book, during visits with their health professionals, you know. yeah hi dr. blackstock, my name is shin. i'm a clinical psychologist in the area and i, i work with in particular. i just wanted to say thank you for that op ed you wrote in 2019, which was something that was really resonant and shared among myself and my colleagues working in boston, in, in a safety net hospital just at the time it was really resonant. but as somebody who a black woman who is a physician is now

very publicly visible, is sort of like seen as an exemplar in many ways. and i think a lot of people here probably resonate with that feeling of being expected, represent more than just you are as a person, right? where do you and how do you find rest in small ways and, in like larger ways? yeah. thank you for that question question. but that is a very it's so funny. someone told me that you really you're very strict about boundaries. i so some things that i did like, i was my social media, my, my dms are closed. i also have an assistant that really filters through my emails. i can't respond to most of my emails. a lot of people ask to talk to me and, i, you know, or meet with me. i just don't have i mean, have a seven and nine year old. i'm trying to, you know, to run an organization. i just don't have the time. but also, you know, i also use

the peloton app and i do like minute meditations. i did a ten minute meditation before i came in today, you know, so i just try to find time for peace. and i have an amazing who i who week, who i've been seeing for like almost five, six years during like thiswhole career personal transition. i also got a divorce during that time. so you know? yeah. so a lot of little things and then even this week for my book launchk, i've asked my friends just to if they can show up for me to support me. and so like i have a lot of friends here, you know, because i want the people here who've known me for of my life and known me outside. what other people know me as. and so yeah, so one thing i tried to do with my therapist is ask for what i need from the people in my life. hi, i'm danny rose, originally from baton rouge. currently baltimore, maryland, working in dc. hey, daddy.

hey, hey. so, i don't know if, this question would be a bit abstract, but i'm curious. you've laid out a lot of data in book and a lot of research, but i want to know what was probably the hardest truth for you to personally wrestle with in writing about health inequities as it pertains to black for this you said, i sound hopeful. mm hmm. i also there's part of that's like, what if it just keeps getting worse. because some things have worse? yeah. and one thing i write about is how, you know, we're seeing, even despite in technology innovation and, you know, research, the inequities are widening. so one thing i always i talk about often they use in my talks is the fact that, you know, the infant mortality. so black babies are more likely to die than white babies in

their first year of life. now than 15 years before the end of slavery. so while overall infant mortality rates for both black and white babies for all babies have improved, the disparity is wider. today. and you think about it like okay. well yeah, because 15 years before the end of slavery black babies had some financial value to them, like there was an interest, there was a financial interest in keeping them alive. and now there's not yeah. so i sometimes i where i'd like, sometimes i feel like it's giving into the void about these, about these issues. i mean i think ultimately i always want policymakers, i mean, i always hope eventually that this lands on policymakers because i, i ultimately feel even on a local level like policy change is what's going to make the biggest difference, y know whether it comes to housing, employment, share education, right. although, you know, what we call the social determinants of. but we know racism is a key structural driver of because i know, for example, when during the during the early part of the

pandemic doing the vaccine rollout, my sister and i wrote we wrote several embeds actually in washington posts about how need to center black americans and these these finite cutoffs actually didn't acknowledge the fact that black people we die earlier in life and i found out that local legislator in denver colorado actually read that they actually were able to integrate some of those into their vaccine rollout. so that's why it wasls sou never know who's who's listening to you, who's reading your work. and so that's why you have to just keep putting it out there vote and vote in local elections, especially if you have the privilege of having representation and and watching. right? yeah. so more questions. yes. my name is harris. like i'm a patent attorney live in chevy chase, grew up in new york city. i went to high school. i know you ten or so it's tough as a fellow peg leg by the always class of 1964.

i'd be interested. i'd be interested in your opinion. your views, your ups and downs or whatever. when you went to study day. yeah so yeah. so the people who not know stuyvesant, the stuyvesant when the special high schools in new york city and you have to take actually a test, a standardized test to get in, which is a whole other set of sort of issues that literally one one test to get in. and when i was att stuyvesant was about 5% black. then in the nineties, 5% hispanic. and then probably i it was the pay above 40% white and maybe the rest asian maybe probably. yeah. i mean obviously enjoyed my time at stuyvesant, but obviously you know, it was glaring that you know there, were so few black students there and i felt like a public private you know

what i mean? the fact that you have all of these resources and that you a lot of the students end up going to very colleges because we take this one test. and so obviously, you know, when i could for my kids, i know, for example, for my kid, it's like i didn't ake the t test for new york public schools because didn't agree with i don't agree with that philosophy of having my kids in a public school where there's like a two tiered system. so will i have my kids take i would if they want to but i wouldn't necessarily them to do so and now it's been very controversial having these elite schools. yeah i can't remember the the mayor i can't remember saying to all of you. yes. we wanted to get rid of him. yeah i mean, it's yeah. and so, you know, getting rid of the test i think is one issue. but the other the other issue is the fact that, you know, a lot of the the middle schools and even the elementary schoolsng because of the lack of resources.

right. so we need to look at, you know what is happening within the schools and make sure that the kids are able to pass the test but that the kids are getting quality education. so that's that's that's why i mean i care less about the test and more about making sure that ur children to be able to be, you know, ng human beings absolutely thank you. thanks. we'll evening dr. blackstock. i'm to meet his wife back. not a physician i'm a health care administrator but i've been in this field and doing work on health disparities health equities for over 20 years. so much and so kovic shined a light on it with wknown for a while and we've been struggling to fight so i'm to you for the work that you're doing to keep word out there and educate people more about disparities. i'm also a commander the u.s. navy reserve and i'm a health care administrator. i work with a lot of our our our

enlisted who are corpsman hospitalny of them who are interested in going to medical have is the and you may have just my my question it's about resources i have several women who are very, very interested in going to medical school. but to get into kaplan course to study r their mcat is, you know, hundreds if not thousands of dollars. how do we bridge the gap as a healthssion, as doctors, as executives and others? how do we start this legacy to make quality so that they can go to school right now? by the way, i have a wise woman and well, okay, okay, okay. everyone here that quite valid. okay, just plug that, that and just relate to that. two things we know that contribute to health disparities

are racism and poverty which is why i started my podcast for black women, about a a wealth and building wealth. but in on all platforms. yes okay. yes, okay. yes, i am with you. no, i mean, that's what like know the excerpt from my book that was in the washington post on monday i talk about like you know some of what are some of the solutions but they're not going to be individuals. you know it's we we really need our we need academic medical institutions. they really need to be involved on community level and in terms of pipeline programs, starting from like nursery school pre-k not just in terms of mentoring but i, i also believe in terms of financial assistance, feel like it's just giving the kids the money, you know, working with schools around, around curricula them design. i mean, it has to start early but i think it's going to be a collaboration between, you know, government agencies, between private institutions, p a concerted

effort. otherwise, it feels like this patchwork, like you'rerying to do stuff, someone else is trying to do stuff. like, you know, it's like you know, that that meme where there's like a crack and i don't people think they there's like like a crack in, don't know like the mountain and there's li it right? you know. yeah yeah. anybody interested in its work i'd love to work with you look me up, please. yeah. then also i think, you know, like, you know, the adult emcee american association, medical college is you know they are more so you know equity focused trying to work on a lot of these pipelineespecially with black men they have a they have a program looking specifically at trying to recruit and develop more black men to go into. i love it. thank you so much. i think that's your question. yeah, no, it looks like. yeah, yeah. we got to on. okay, okay, okay. sorry. okay. hard. dr. blackstock, i'm cameron. i'm from northern virginia.

and first off, i just want to say i read your book yet, but my book club is doing your book for february. so i'm so excited for that. and also just thank you so much being here and speaking because i personally work in help. i feel so validating just to hear how these i think so many black women go through this and not a new story. it's you. we all are familiar with it, but hearing it and feeling affirmed and seeing someone like yourself who is speaking so loudly about it, so passionately and so much work is incredible. thank you. and can i just say, like i that that we share our stories so that we don't feel isolated, that we don't feel gaslit 1,000%, which is perfectly like kind. what i wanted to ask you about i think a lot people have touched on it already. but just to add a little nuance, i went through predominant white school from a predominately white area work and have worked in health care during the as well and also saw the double hospital effect of seeing how

how equity is in this issue how much covid was an equity issue and then still wle around still rendered or tell you that that's, you know literally what we're seeing in this country with dei equity efforts being struck down everywhere. and i just wanted to ask for you personally, i think going through that system, i work with students as well. and i'm curious, i think it can be very surprising, demoralizing. i was going say it's hard not to have a positive outlook. and you yourself said that, you know, we're still trying to figure it out. but working with students, being in health care system, having all of my friends, kind of being these grams and everyone is still in that space of like there's nobody here. you know who truly uerstands. there's ten times as much that we have on our back what's something that you i guess feel like you would have wanted to hear when you were were young

and going into that field? i mean i feel like i wish, i had known that there are different options for me that that the path that i thought i was supposed to take i didn't have to necessarily take because i feel like for a lot of my personal life and my career, i was like checking boxes. i was like, okay, okay. i did did that, did that. i thought i was doing eve i thought i was supposed to do but i felt myself misaligned right? and i again, i had to take that leap of faith to find my alignment. so, yeah, it's no, it's, it's, yeah, it's yeah. you know, it's so tough and, you know, when i left academic medicine, i felt a lot of guilt especially leaving the students. that was the most like i was just like, oh, i felt so horrible. but then, you know, it happened. he tell me they would reach out like dr. blackstock know, seeing what you're doing outside of academia and seeing that you can still make a difference and you can do your way like you are

modeling, modeling for us what is possible. so i think that we just have to like, you know, it's so hard when when we're it because it's like you feel like you have to be in that environment to get to where you are. so again, like try to find your ur crew, support each other, you know find moments of through it and know that on the othe really endless possibilities for what you can d so you had mentioned an equity based academic or med school, i think in your last answer. oh, which or the curriculum was a little bit more equity based and wellbeing is currently developed. okay. i'm just on programs like that. i do feel like that is the new wave. having it is know, how medical students are taught is only part of it. you know how, residents are trained is is only part of it. faculty i mean, because we know what within health care is only ahat makes us sick. right so that's why people like, oh, should i go to medical school and like there are other

that you can do outside of medicine, you know, in public health or birth work. like there are so many things that you can do to work in service to our communities and make a difference right. what's something you said you, um, that you didn't know was an option when were an undergrad or med school beca you thought you were just checking boxes that you kind of wish you had done that you looked over. no. okay. so i actually wish in college i had been like a sociology major orbut didn't really get much like great counseling or everyone had the major in biology. yeah, i majored in biology. yeah. and i'm like, oh, that was my last to actually be like a really smart, you know, thoughtful person. but it's okay. yeah i think. i think you did all right. yeah. yeah but no, because also, i feel like sociology anthro, like all of that, all those disciplines are so important to understand like health and care.

and i amenities. yeah, absolutely. so i feel that would have like probably primed me for kind of thinking of more out of the box about that. so that's the frustration. like, i mean, you have these doctors and you're like have taken an american history race right? exactly. okay, so do have one more question. dr. i just want to say that i really enjoyed your presentation. it's very beautiful and it kind of spoke to all of that encourages, me as a high school student to pursue public health and, you know, address these health care, especially within the black community. but what really resonated with me the most is when you talked about navigating white spaces or within those spaces where people don't look like you, how you managed to, you know, find that voice and not being afraid to take up space with expressing you saw and your concerns within black community as someone who goes through predominately white high school, i do some issues and i do want to talk about it, but sometimes itacking trying to voice out and you're going to feel like everyone's against you and you did talk about like when you

wrote article people you know shared negative comments so how did you navigate that how are you able to continue with that even with that experience? thank you. thank you for that comment and your question. yes, thank you. so i'm going to be totally honest. there were times i was really scared and looking back, there were times when i was brave and i didn't i was being brave. so so a lot of times you're just in you're like trying to survive and you don't recognize until after the fact looking back like, oh, well, i did that you know. so i definitely think that, you know, we have to give ourselves grace and we have to i think we have to speak up. we really we really have to we have to speak. and i know these environments make us feel scared. like i was in the book i was scared about losing my job. but then what i realized is, okay because actually. no, no no. i know i'm in a privileged position, you know, but i had forgotten i was someone with gifts to share. that's how these environments that's what do to us. yeah, i. i forgot. no. literally had felt i felt

average. yeah. no. and i mean average you. no, no, no, no, no's how you like it. you have no as iconic institutions where they make you feel like you were nothing. you got there and then you'll be nothing. yeah. and i thought i actually needed. an academic affiliation. yeah. yeah.know it was through the series of conversations, you know, with my therapist and my sister with, with some of my i realized i was like, you can you don't you don't need and, you know, i mean, you need to yeah. yeah. you know, but it's literally like having to unlearn.yeah. everything that i had learned. yeah right? like, like that being affiliated with these, with these institutions, which are just you know. yeah, that reminds me of the iconic w.e.b. du bois quote that i'm about to butcher. when he was at fisk, you know, he's the first black man to get a ph.d. from harvard. i believe. and he said, i assure you, the privilege. harvard. yes, yes yes, yes, yes. and and you know what i and i see at the end of the book i say that i think at least

institutions don't deserve us. they don't. they don't. we carry so emotional labor, so much, so much, so much so it's a remember that. yeah, yeah. you're you're you're the gift. yes, yes yes. okay. well it has been and it's been beyond a gift, having with evening. i know there's going to be an opportunity for you to sign books. i believe i don't how that's going to wor destino said help with that all right let me get my yeah if you can come and help just with directing people. oh, there you are. thank you, everybody so much for coming out. let's give one more round of applause.

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