Resources
Want to learn more? Check out some of the articles, books, and other resources below!
Please note that this list is far from comprehensive and the readings BTB members will do over the course of the year do not necessarily include, and are not limited to, the items listed below. This list is an attempt to highlight some of the topics covered in our discussions and events. We’re always open to suggestions for things to add on here, so please feel free to message us with suggestions!
Articles and Online Resources
Fenway Health and The National LGBT Health Education Center
The Fenway Institute is a fantastic resource, and their website contains a wealth of information relating to LGBT health compiled by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, educators, and public health professionals with expertise in LGBT health research and care.
Reisner S, J Bradford, R Hopwood, A Gonzalez, H Makadon, D Todisco, R VanDerwarker, C Grasso, S Zaslow, SL Boswell, and K Mayer. Comprehensive Transgender Healthcare: The Gender Affirming Clinical and Public Health Model of Fenway Health. Journal of Urban Health. 2015. 92:3, 584-592.
V Baćak, K Thurman, K Eyer, R Qureshi, JDP Bird, LM Rivera, SA Kim. Incarceration as a Health Determinant for Sexual Orientation and Gender Minority Persons. American Journal of Public Health. (2018). 108;8, pp. 994-999.
Haider AH, EB Schneider, LM Kodadek, RR Adler, A Ranjit, M Torain, RY Shields, C Snyder, JD Schuur, L Vail, D German, S Peterson, and BD Lau. 2017. Emergency Department Query for Patient-Centered Approaches to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: The EQUALITY Study. JAMA Internal Medicine. Doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.0906
Harderman RR, Medina EM, Kozhimannil KB. Structural Racism and Supporting Black Lives -- The Role of Health Professionals. NEJM (2016) 375;22, 2113-2115.
Tsai, Jennifer. “Diversity and Inclusion in Medical Schools: The Reality.” Scientific American: Voices. 12 July 2018.
Maeve E. Wallace, PhD, Pauline Mendola, PhD, Danping Liu, PhD, and Katherine L. Grantz, MD. Joint Effects of Structural Racism and Income Inequality on Small-for-Gestational-Age Birth. American Journal of Public Health. (2015) 105; 8, pp. 1681-1688.
Suglia SF. Subsidized Housing and Health: Time for a Multidisciplinary Approach. American Journal of Public Health. (2018). 108(8), pp. 975–976
Francis, C.K. Medical Ethos and Social Responsibility in Clinical Medicine. J Urban Health (2001) 78: 29. https://doi.org/10.1093/jurban/78.1.29
Z Bailey, N Krieger, M Agenor, J Graces, N Linos, and MT Bassett. Structural racism and health inequities in the USA: evidence and interventions. The Lancet. (2017). 398(10077), 1453-1463.
L Beletsky, J Cochrane, AL Sawyer, C Serio-Chapman, M Smelyanskaya, J Han, N Robinowitz, and SG Sherman. Police Encounters Among Needle Exchange Clients in Baltimore: Drug Law Enforcement as a Structural Determinant of Health. American Journal of Public Health. (2015) 105, 9. pp. 1872-1879.
Getting Off Right Safety Manual, by the Harm Reduction Coalition
Nachtwey, James. “The Opioid Diaries: Photo Essay” TIME Magazine. 5 March 2018.
Broome, Brian. “Amid the opioid epidemic, white means victim, black means addict”. The Guardian. 28 April 2018.
Tsai, Jennifer. “Racial Differences in Addiction and Other Disorders Aren’t Mostly Genetic.” Scientific American: Voices. 30 January 2018.
Books
Note: if you are on a university campus, most libraries will stock these, and some local libraries will as well.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond (2017)
In Evicted, Princeton sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Hailed as “wrenching and revelatory” (The Nation),, “vivid and unsettling” (New York Review of Books), Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of 21st-century America’s most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, by Harriet A Washington (2007)
The product of years of prodigious research into medical journals and experimental reports long undisturbed, Medical Apartheid reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and makes possible, for the first time, an understanding of the roots of the African American health deficit. At last, it provides the fullest possible context for comprehending the behavioral fallout that has caused black Americans to view researchers—and indeed the whole medical establishment—with such deep distrust. No one concerned with issues of public health and racial justice can afford not to read Medical Apartheid, a masterful book that will stir up both controversy and long-needed debate.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color-blindness, by Michelle Alexander (2012)
Praised by Harvard Law professor Lani Guinier as "brave and bold," this book directly challenges the notion that the election of Barack Obama signals a new era of colorblindness. With dazzling candor, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." By targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control—relegating millions to a permanent second-class status—even as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness. In the words of Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, this book is a "call to action."
The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy, by Anna Clark (2018)
The details of the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan water crisis are well established: In 2014, the city decided to use water from the local Flint River as it waited to join a regional water system. They soon found that the water was contaminated with lead and other toxic materials that caused diseases, hair loss, and skin rashes—as well as effects that still remain to be seen. In her detailed account of the crisis and its aftermath, freelance journalist Anna Clark examines how “decades of negligence” led to this moment.
Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice, ed by Jael Stillman, Marlene Gerber Fried, Loretta Ross, and Elena R Gutierrez (2nd edition, 2016)
Undivided Rights presents an original and textured understanding of the reproductive rights movement by placing the experiences, priorities, and activism of women of color in the foreground. Using historical research, original organizational case studies, and personal interviews, the authors illuminate how women of color have led the fight to control their own bodies and reproductive destinies.
What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Mona Hanna-Attisha (2018)
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician, recounts in her new book how she and a group of researchers and community members realized there was lead in the water of Flint, Michigan. Called What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, this book is captivating look at a public health crisis and the resultant backlash.
Video / Documentaries
13th (2016) - dir. Ava DuVernay (*available on Netflix)
http://www.avaduvernay.com/#/13th/