Systemic racism continues to shape medical education, clinical practice and patient outcomes. It’s a topic near and dear to Dr. Uché Blackstock—physician, health equity advocate, and New York Times bestselling author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine.

In this episode, Dr. Blackstock reflects on her own experiences as a Black woman in medicine, including a misdiagnosis during medical school that left her hospitalized. She also examines how historical policies, such as the Flexner Report and redlining, continue to impact today’s health inequities.

The episode also touches on bias in clinical decision-making and the urgent need to reframe medical training around social determinants of health. This conversation with Movement Is Life’s Dr. Mary O’Connor and Dr. Hadiya Green is a call to action for everyone working to advance health equity.

Registration is now open for the upcoming Movement Is Life Annual Summit on Friday, November 14, 2025, in Washington, DC. This year’s theme is “Combating Health Disparities: The Power of Movement in Community.” Visit movementislifecommunity.org for more information.

Never miss an episode – subscribe to The Health Disparities podcast from Movement Is Life on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts

Health misinformation is a growing challenge, as social media has become a primary source of information for many people, and influential voices are casting doubt on established medical practices.

Trusted health sources are becoming harder to find, especially in communities of color where access to care is already limited and systemic barriers persist.

The fight to bring reliable health information and resources to vulnerable communities is not new. For decades, organizations like the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health have been doing this work — building trust, educating communities and empowering individuals to take charge of their health.

To learn more, we spoke with Dr. Marilyn Fraser, Chief Executive Officer of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. Dr. Fraser speaks with Movement Is Life’s Conchita Burpee.

Never miss an episode – be sure to subscribe to The Health Disparities podcast from Movement Is Life on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

There are numerous social and structural vectors for disease that are not often discussed in medical school. So, Dr. David Ansell says he had a lot to learn once he became a physician.

Ansell, author of “The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills,” writes about the stark disparities in access to treatment and outcomes for patients in the U.S. healthcare system.

“We always talk about inequities. We have frank inequities, but we have gross inequalities,” Ansell says. “The care isn't equal… And if we could get to equal, then we can take on the inequity.”

One of the most glaring examples is life expectancy; a person’s zip code can be a strong predictor for their life expectancy due to social and structural determinants of health, including structural racism and economic deprivation, he says.

“If you live in The Loop in Chicago, you can live to be 85 and if it were a country, it'd be ranked first in the world,” Ansell says. “But if you live in Garfield Park, three stops down the Blue Line from Rush, life expectancy post-Covid is 66.”

In this conversation, which was first published in 2023 for the Health Disparities podcast, Dr. Ansell speaks with Movement Is Life’s Dr. Carla Harwell about the importance of addressing systemic racism and inequality in the healthcare system.

Never miss an episode – be sure to subscribe to The Health Disparities podcast from Movement Is Life on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.