Exposed how racism undermines Black Americans’ health at every stage.
Author: Disparity Matters
Leading voice for ensuring that health breakthroughs reach all communities.
Translated Health Equity Research Into Practice for Hospitals and Health Systems Nationally.
Fought Against Cardiovascular Health Disparities in Black Communities.
Confronted Medical Racism, Leads Historic Equity Reckoning for Black Americans.
Pioneered Text-Based Mental Health Support for Low-Income Latinx Communities
Fought Black Maternal Mortality Through Education and Advocacy in Georgia
Black mothers with uncomplicated pregnancies in New Jersey are 25 percent more likely to deliver by cesarean section than their White counterparts, even when medical risk factors suggest they should undergo the surgery less often. This striking disparity persists even when Black and White mothers receive care from the same physicians in the same hospitals.The gap proves most pronounced among the lowest-risk pregnancies, where Black mothers are 162 percent more likely to have an intrapartum C-section than White mothers. Among the highest-risk deliveries, however, no racial difference exists in C-section rates.Researchers analyzed nearly one million births in New Jersey from…
African Americans develop Alzheimer’s disease at roughly twice the rate of White Americans, a disparity rooted in unequal healthcare access, educational inequities, and biases in cognitive testing. Higher rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in African American communities further compound this risk.Until now, most Alzheimer’s brain tissue research has focused predominantly on European-ancestry populations, leaving critical gaps in understanding how the disease manifests genetically in African Americans. Scientists at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine conducted the largest Alzheimer’s study to date using African American brain tissue, analyzing samples from 207 donors across 14 NIH-funded research centers.The research…
A new study reveals how historical racial oppression shaped reproductive patterns and long-term mortality among Black and White women born during America’s Jim Crow era. Researchers examined over 6,500 women born between 1920 and 1941, finding stark differences in childbearing experiences between racial groups.Black women from this period were significantly more likely than White women to have either no children or five or more children. These extremes weren’t random. High parity among Black women connected directly to exposure to southern plantation agricultural systems and sharecropping arrangements that defined Jim Crow economics. Meanwhile, childlessness among Black women stemmed primarily from perinatal…