Courtesy images.
In her bestselling generational memoir Dr. Blackstock reflects on deep inequities of the U.S. healthcare system and offers prescriptions for positive change
SUMMARY
- UCSB Arts & Lectures presents Dr. Uché Blackstock in a talk titled Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine
- Wed, Nov 20 | 7:30 p.m. | UCSB Campbell Hall
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- FREE copies of Blackstock’s new book, Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine, will be available while supplies last (pick up at event; one per household)
- Dr. Blackstock made Time’s list of the 100 Most Important People in Health 2024
- She was also named in Fortune Magazine as one of 13 Innovators Shaping the Future of Health in 2023
- Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine is a New York Times bestselling memoir
- Part of UCSB Arts & Lectures’ Justice For All programming initiative
- $18 General Public / Free for UCSB Students (Current student ID required)
- Tickets & Info: www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu or (805) 893-3535
“Uché Blackstock is a force of nature.” – Abraham Verghese, author of The Covenant of Water
“One of the most insightful and impactful public voices in medicine.” – Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of South to America
SANTA BARBARA — UCSB Arts & Lectures presents Dr. Uché Blackstock in a talk titled Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at UCSB Campbell Hall. FREE copies of Blackstock’s new book, Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine, will be available while supplies last (pick up at event; one per household). As an ER physician and one of the country’s leading health equity advocates, Dr. Uché Blackstock has a deep and hands-on understanding of how systemic racism is affecting the health of BIPOC communities across the country. She was recognized in 2023 by Fortune Magazine as one of 13 Innovators Shaping the Future of Health, and in 2024 as one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Important People in Health. Her generational memoir, Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine, became an instant New York Times bestseller upon publication in January.
ABC News Dr. Uché Blackstock says we need to invest in black communities with healthcare.
ABOUT DR. UCHÉ BLACKSTOCK
Dr. Uché Blackstock is an emergency physician and second-generation Harvard graduate with over 17 years of medical experience. She is the founder of Advancing Health Equity, an organization dedicated to dismantling racism in healthcare. She is also an MSNBC medical contributor and author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine.
Blackstock is a respected thought leader on bias and racism in healthcare. Described by Forbes as “a growing voice that is bringing to light and offering solutions to unconscious bias and structural racism among healthcare organizations,” she speaks to organizations across all sectors about the intersection of medicine, health equity and systemic racism.
In her memoir Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine, Blackstock’s personal lens tells a broader story about race in America, raising a call to action for health equity. The book is her odyssey from child to medical student to practicing physician – to finally seizing her own power as a health equity advocate against the backdrop of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the 1980s, Blackstock’s mother headed an organization of Black female physicians who cared for patients and the broader community. Blackstock and her twin sister followed in their mother’s footsteps and headed to Harvard Medical School, making them the first Black mother-daughter legacies from the school. With only about six percent of American physicians being Black, and only about three percent being Black women, the Blackstock sisters were making history.
What Blackstock did not learn at Harvard was that the lack of diversity among physicians has a direct impact on patient care. Black Americans have far worse health outcomes than any other group in the country. One striking example: citing a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the New York Times reported that “the richest Black mothers and their babies are twice as likely to die as the richest white mothers and their babies.”
Blackstock’s writing, including numerous OpEds, has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Scientific American, The Washington Post and STAT News for the Boston Globe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she appeared regularly on radio and cable news programming to amplify the message around racial health inequities, including with CNN, NPR Morning Edition, The Brian Lehrer Show, Dr. Oz and The New York Times and has been featured recently on PBS NewsHour and in Essence, as well as on panels at Afropunk and Essence Fest.
Blackstock is a former associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the former faculty director for recruitment, retention and inclusion in the Office of Diversity Affairs at NYU School of Medicine. She received both her undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University, making Blackstock, her twin sister Oni and their mother Dale the first Black mother-daughter legacies from Harvard Medical School.
ABOUT UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
Founded in 1959, UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) is the largest and most influential arts and lectures organization between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A&L annually presents more than a hundred public events, from critically acclaimed concerts and dance performances by world-renowned artists to talks by groundbreaking authors and film series at UCSB and Santa Barbara-area venues. With a mission to “educate, entertain and inspire,” A&L also oversees an outreach program that brings visiting artists and speakers into local classrooms and other venues for master classes, open rehearsals, discussions and more, serving K-12 students, college students and the general public.
Dr. Uché Blackstock’s talk, Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine, is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures.
Justice for All Lead Sponsors: Marcy Carsey, Connie Frank & Evan Thompson, Eva & Yoel Haller, Dick Wolf and Zegar Family Foundation
Presented in association with the following UCSB partners: Health Professions Advising; Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Departments of Black Studies and Feminist Studies.
Special thanks to the Santa Barbara Independent.
Tickets are $18 General Public / Free for UCSB Students (Current student ID required). FREE copies of Blackstock’s new book, Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine, will be available while supplies last (pick up at event; one per household).
For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535 or purchase online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges 2024-2025 Season Sponsor Sara Miller McCune.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges our Community Partners the Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli for their generous support of the 2024-2025 season.