The Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CI MED), Department of History, and Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) recently co-sponsored the first event in the inaugural Science, Health, & Equity Series, Unintended Consequences of Premature Black Death. The event attracted researchers from 22 departments and 9 colleges across campus as well as several members of the local community and beyond. Presentation slides are available.
IHSI Research Scientist Brandi Barnes, CI MED Associate Dean for Diversity and Democratization of Health Innovation Ruby Mendenhall, and Thomas M. Siebel Chair in History of Science Professor David Sepkoski participated in a working group and decided to start a speaker series focused on issues around science, technology, health, and justice.
Unintended Consequences of Premature Black Death was selected as the first topic that would bring together the health, science, and history disciplines at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to work toward a common good.
The negative social determinants of health disproportionately impact Black Americans and innovative structural interventions are necessary to reduce poor health outcomes. Invited speaker Monica R. McLemore, a professor in the Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing, and interim director for the Manning-Price Spratlan Center for Anti-Racism and Equity (CARE) in Nursing at the University of Washington, connected the dots between preventable maternal morbidity and mortality, infant mortality, and premature Black death.
According to the 1969 report from the Center for Disease Control, the mortality rate for non-white infants in New Jersey, where McLemore was born, was 35 per 1,000 births – more than double the mortality rate for white infants. Born six weeks early that same year, when prematurity was a leading indicator for infant death during the first year of life, McLemore considers herself both lucky and grateful to have survived.
McLemore presented past and present statistics on infant mortality to attendees, describing the study designs that will be required to provide meaningful data that map assets and identify strengths and protective factors, and how to imagine novel structural interventions that could be operationalized in the present.
“We’ve been collecting data about the rates of infant mortality for almost a hundred years, but I want you to understand some unintended consequences of continuing to allow it to occur,” explained McLemore. “My job as a teacher is to activate you to really understand that we can do something about this, and perhaps it’s time for us to have a conversation about how we can differently do something about these things.”
As the presentation continued, McLemore explored how healthcare hierarchy is structurally racist and why it contributes to the inability to diversify the healthcare workforce, explaining that a bolder approach to healthcare reform that ensures a culturally, ethically, and racially competent workforce is an essential component to achieving health equity.
“From where I sit, I think if we can get out of the same process logic that we’ve used to allow for premature Black deaths, either at the front end of life or at the back end of life, we might actually be able to change our world and future,” McLemore said in closing.
In addition to the presentation, McLemore met with various individuals during her Illinois visit.
"Dr. McLemore's visit was an amazing success. She engaged with multiple faculty members across campus and with community partners, and her talk beautifully combined her exceptional scholarship and commitment to activism in a way that inspired the audience. The connections made during Dr. McLemore's visit will be long-lasting," Sepkoski said.
Future events
Organizers hope to bring speakers to campus and continue this very important conversation. Subscribe to the IHSI e-newsletter for information about future series events.