Dr. Uché Blackstock grew up in Brooklyn, surrounded by Black women doctors like her mother and pediatrician. However, when she attended Harvard Medical School with her twin sister Oni, she realized that only about 5% of practicing U.S. physicians are Black. The Blackstocks made history as the first Black mother-daughter legacies at Harvard Medical School.
In 2019, Dr. Blackstock left her position as a professor of emergency medicine at NYU Langone Health to address the issue of racial inequality in medicine. She founded Advancing Health Equity, a consulting firm aimed at helping companies, hospitals, and health systems understand the history of racism in medicine, eliminate biases, and create plans for promoting equitable healthcare.
Through her work at Advancing Health Equity and her bestselling book, Legacy, Dr. Blackstock has been able to make a larger impact than she could within a medical organization. She describes her book as part family memoir and part call to action to address racial health disparities. Dr. Blackstock feels that she has been able to use her voice more effectively outside of academic medicine.