In 2018, journalist Linda Villarosa wrote an article in The New York Times Magazine that kicked off a national conversation about health disparities. It showed that Black mothers and their babies in the U.S. were dying at more than double the rate of their white peers, and it pulled back the curtain on how those statistics related to racism.

For Villarosa, it had been a long road linking health disparities to racism. In the beginning of her career, she was a big believer in self-help, thinking that better information and more education could close the health gap. But the more she reported on these issues, the more she came to understand how racism, discrimination, and bias affect health experiences and outcomes for Black Americans.

On this episode, we talk with Villarosa about her new book, “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation.”

We also meet a Black midwife in West Virginia and find out how she’s making a difference for her patients, and a med student who’s using TikTok to spread life-saving information.

Also heard on this week’s episode: