Isabel Wilkerson
Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the critically-acclaimed bestsellers The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste
Dr. Uché Blackstock
Founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, emergency physician, and New York Times-bestselling author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine
Speaker Reel: Dr. Uché Blackstock
Photo credit: Diane Zhao
Dr. Uché Blackstock is a physician, author, and changemaker reimagining the future of health. A Harvard-educated emergency physician with over 17 years of frontline experience, she is the Founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, a strategic consulting firm that partners with leaders and organizations across the healthcare and public health ecosystem to create systems where everyone can thrive.
Recognized by TIME on its inaugural TIME100 in Health list, Dr. Blackstock is also the New York Times-bestselling author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine. As a former MSNBC and NBC News medical contributor, her voice and analysis have shaped national conversations on trust, leadership, and justice in health. A dynamic and passionate speaker, she engages audiences across industries in honest, forward-looking discussions about how we build institutions worthy of the communities they serve and the bold leap of faith it took to found a mission-driven company dedicated to that work.
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About Uché Blackstock
Dr. Uché Blackstock’s story begins in her mother’s Brooklyn clinic, where medicine looked like listening, accountability, and a fierce belief that neighbors deserved the very best care. Guided by Dr. Dale Gloria Blackstock’s example, Uché learned that healing is scientific and it is human. Years later, she and her twin sister, Dr. Oni Blackstock, walked the halls of Harvard Medical School, becoming the first Black mother-daughter legacies in the school’s history. That lineage is the backbone of her work and the heart of her book, Legacy, which traces how personal inheritance and institutional history shape the care we all receive.
After more than 17 years as a Harvard-trained emergency physician, Dr. Blackstock founded Advancing Health Equity to help leaders redesign systems so people can thrive. She partners with organizations to move from good intentions to real outcomes through leadership advising, strategy design, and culture transformation. Her keynotes blend data with lived experience. In Legacy, she recounts caring for patients on overnight shifts, guiding families through impossible choices, and the small conversations that become turning points. One story follows a trusted neighborhood barber and a conversation about vaccination that unfolded chair by chair. It is a scene about trust, dignity, and meeting people where they are. Those same themes shape the way she teaches leaders to build relationships that last.
Dr. Blackstock is the New York Times-bestselling author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine, a memoir that ties her family’s journey to the history of American medicine and offers a vision for better care. Her insights have appeared on MSNBC, NPR, and PBS NewsHour, and in The Washington Post, Scientific American, Essence, and STAT News. TIME named her to its inaugural TIME100 in Health list, and Fortune recognized her among “13 Innovators Shaping the Future of Health.”
On stage, Dr. Blackstock brings clarity and courage. She invites audiences to imagine what becomes possible when trust, accountability, and care are built into the architecture of our systems. The through line from her mother’s exam room to today is simple and profound. Listen closely. Tell the truth. Design for belonging. Then measure what changes.
Contact us to learn how to bring Dr. Uché Blackstock to your next event.
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Speaking Topics
Unpacking Legacy: From the Personal to the Systemic
In this deeply personal and data-informed talk, Dr. Uché Blackstock explores the legacies that have shaped her journey, from following in her late mother’s footsteps at Harvard Medical School to confronting the enduring inequities embedded in our health systems.
Drawing from her New York Times-bestselling memoir Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine, she blends story and evidence to reveal how history still shapes outcomes today. This talk invites audiences to consider what it means to transform awareness into accountability and to build institutions worthy of the people they serve.
Taking a Leap of Faith: From Medicine to Entrepreneurship
In 2019, Dr. Uché Blackstock made a bold move: she left academic medicine to found Advancing Health Equity, a mission-driven company dedicated to helping organizations design systems where everyone can thrive.
Through compelling storytelling and practical insights, Dr. Blackstock shares what it means to lead with conviction, navigate uncertainty, and translate purpose into measurable impact. This keynote is for entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders ready to align their values with their vision for change.
Trust, Accountability, and Transparency: The Foundations of Better Care
Trust is the foundation of effective leadership and care—and one of the hardest things to rebuild once it’s been broken. In this talk, Dr. Blackstock draws on both data and lived experience to illuminate why trust, accountability, and transparency are the building blocks of stronger systems and better outcomes.
She shares actionable frameworks for how institutions can move beyond statements of commitment to meaningful, measurable progress. The result is an inspiring conversation about how trust can once again become the organizing principle of healthcare, business, and leadership.
The Future of Health: AI, Trust, and the Human Element
Artificial intelligence is transforming healthcare faster than ever, but without careful design, it risks replicating the very biases it promises to fix. In this timely and forward-looking talk, Dr. Blackstock explores how data, technology, and human insight must work together to ensure innovation serves everyone.
Blending real-world stories and research, she shows audiences how to build systems that are not only smarter but also more just, trustworthy, and humane. This talk leaves leaders equipped to approach AI with curiosity, integrity, and care.
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Praise for Uché Blackstock
Dr. Blackstock’s keynote speech was the highlight of our annual meeting. In a generationally diverse audience, Dr. Blackstock inspired medical students and retired physicians alike. Throughout her talk, Dr. Blackstock engaged the audience, challenging us to think beyond the data to see the true human toll of racism in the U.S. healthcare system. She elegantly framed these devastating impacts in terms of loss, not only of lives, but of the vital moments and connections that enrich and sustain families and communities. Dr. Blackstock’s extraordinary perspective is essential in these times.
— Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP)Dr. Blackstock’s visit was amazing! Our students LOVED her – so many students said that Legacy made them feel seen, and that it meant a lot to hear her speak and get to have conversations with her. They were really excited to get their books signed, too!
I really think her visit had a huge impact on our students and faculty as well. It brought the community together and sparked some great discussions on campus and in the classroom. She is always welcome back at Simmons!
— Simmons UniversityOur entire staff and the attendees were absolutely thrilled to meet and speak with Dr. Blackstock. She graciously decided to sign books during the reception, which was such a thoughtful touch and something everyone truly enjoyed. Many of our staff were a little starstruck, and it meant so much to them to have that personal connection. The fireside chat itself was outstanding; it flowed beautifully and was the highlight of the evening. The authenticity, insight, and warmth Dr. Blackstock brought to the conversation left a lasting impression on everyone in the room.
— Lindsay Seekford, Healthy Start, Inc.Dr. Blackstock was excellent. Her fireside chat was inspiring. Having her speak let the public know how serious we are about making changes in our organization. Many people were impressed that our organization is working on these issues.
— Valley Health SystemPraise for Legacy
Uché Blackstock has made something abundantly clear: If you want to understand a society, look at its hospitals. Dr. Blackstock, one of the most insightful and impactful public voices in medicine, shares her remarkable personal story and her profound insight regarding race, gender, and health inequality. We meet a person who is vulnerable, human, and brilliant. However, this book is so much more than a compelling memoir. These are marching orders. Armed with concrete steps for addressing inequality, readers will be inspired to become better stewards of our communities and society. Simply put, Legacy makes room for us to freedom dream anew.
— Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of South to AmericaLegacy is both a compelling memoir and an edifying analysis of the inequities in the way we deliver healthcare in America. Uché Blackstock is a force of nature.
— Abraham Verghese, MD, author of The Covenant of Water and Cutting for Stone -
Books by Uché Blackstock
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Featured Title
Legacy
“Legacy is an illuminating and stirring journey of a book. The illuminating: the devastating cycle of racism in our healthcare system. The stirring: the inimitable family and career of Dr. Uché Blackstock and her quest to dismantle medical racism.”
—Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist
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