It took me many years to be brave enough to speak honestly or put together what I was seeing and to be able to say, “This has social causation, and part of the social causation is structural racism and economic deprivation”… if I’m proud of anything it was to change the narrative around causation.
Having grown up on the south side of Chicago, I was well aware of economic disparities. However, I only became acutely aware of health disparities as a case manager in an acute care state hospital, the now-closed Tinley Park Mental Health Center.
I think it is truly our responsibility to maximize the use of the tools we have been fortunate to receive to make the world a better place and especially to elevate those who did not get the same tools that we did.
Mistrust in research in health in some communities is so strong and historical. Researchers want to publish data on communities, but what is a community’s interest in science? Without building a network and a platform in the community, it’s hard to do any research–and discoveries have to go on to benefit the patients in our community.
Ensuring equitable access to safe, affordable, healthy food is something I fell in love with during college. It was at the heart of my volunteering and research, and the thing that launched me into the world of public health and the fight for health equity.