MƒA Thursday Think: Legacy: Mobilizing for Health Equity

Over the past twenty years, maternal mortality rates have worsened across all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, with Black individuals and other people of color experiencing the most significant increases. Despite numerous innovations in research and technology, this troubling trend persists. In this special fireside chat edition of our Thursday Think Series, Dr. Uché Blackstock will share her call to action for achieving health equity. She will examine the historical and contemporary factors contributing to racial health disparities and propose actionable solutions at the individual, community, and policy levels to improve health outcomes for all Americans. Drawing on her personal and professional experiences as a Black physician, Dr. Blackstock will share insights into the challenges she has encountered in some of the country's most esteemed medical institutions. Teachers will have the opportunity to submit questions for the conversation. Following the chat, Dr. Blackstock will host a book signing for her memoir, LEGACY: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine.

Dr. Uché Blackstock is a physician, thought leader, and the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity (AHE). Her mission is to dismantle racism in healthcare and close the gap in racial health inequities. Dr. Blackstock has received numerous awards, including the American Medical Women’s Association’s Presidential Award, the Harvard Humanist of the Year, and the NAACP Valiant Service Award. She regularly appears in the media, and her writing has been featured in notable publications such as the Chicago Tribune, Scientific American, The Washington Post, and New York Magazine. Additionally, she was recognized by Forbes magazine as one of “10 Diversity and Inclusion Trailblazers You Need to Get Familiar With,” by Fortune magazine as one of "13 Innovators Shaping the Future of Health,” and in 2024, as one of TIME's "100 Most Influential People in Health." Dr. Blackstock received both her undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University, making her and her twin sister, Oni, the first Black mother-daughter legacy graduates from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Blackstock recently published her generational memoir, LEGACY: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine, which became a New York Times best-seller. She lives in her hometown of Brooklyn, New York, with her two school-aged children.

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