Podcast from the Human Biology Association: Sausage of Science

A couple of weeks ago my collaborator Connie Mulligan and I had a chance to talk with Chris Lynn and Cara Ocobock from HBA’s Sausage of Science podcast about our recent paper, led by Peter Rej, in American Journal of Human Biology. Our wide-ranging conversation covers how Connie and I got into anthropology in the first place, how we started working together, the importance of a community-based participatory research approach to our partnerships in Tallahassee, and the new paper itself, which shows that experiences of racial discrimination are associated with shortened telomeres among African Americans in Tallahassee.

The podcast episode is out now — check it out.

P.S. Despite saying (twice!) that I was a psychology major for a while before switching to anthropology, that’s not true! Philosophy, yes; psychology, no. I guess the stress of talking about stress was just too much for my brain to handle.

UF Law webinar: Should colleges require a course on racism?

On June 23 I’ll join five UF colleagues for a web-based forum organized by the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations about whether colleges in the United States should require a course on racism. Registration is required.

New paper on discrimination and metabolic syndrome

Update (July 20, 2020): The article is now available on Early View. It was also covered in a story on CardiologyToday.

I’m happy to be a co-author with a team led by Michelle Cardel on a paper just accepted for publication in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. Stay tuned!

Experiences of discrimination are associated with worse metabolic syndrome severity among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study

Cardel, Michelle I., Xiaofei Chi, Yuan-I Min, Mario Sims, Solomon Musani, Akilah Dulin, Clarence C. Gravlee, Steven M. Smith, Mark D. DeBoer, Matthew J. Gurka

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. While development of MetS is attributed to known lifestyle factors, perceived discrimination may also contribute to MetS development and severity.

Purpose: We examined associations of perceived discrimination with MetS severity among African American (AA) adults at baseline and 8-year follow-up.

Methods: 3,870 participants (mean age 53.8±13.0; 63.1% female) without diabetes and no missing MetS severity scores at baseline were included. Each self-reported measure at baseline (everyday, lifetime, and burden of lifetime) was classified into tertiles (low, medium, high). After adjustment for demographics and MetS risk factors, associations of discrimination were examined with a sex- and race/ethnicity-specific MetS severity Z-score via mixed models, allowing for assessment of an overall association between reported discrimination at baseline and MetS severity, as well as whether this association changed over time.

Results: Sex and age differences were observed in experiences with discrimination, such that men report higher levels of all aspects of discrimination relative to women. Everyday discrimination decreases with age, while lifetime discrimination increases with age (p<0.05). Independent of lifestyle and demographic factors, everyday and lifetime discrimination were significantly associated with MetS severity (p=0.003 and p=0.017, respectively); these associations remained constant over the 8 years (i.e., no interaction with time).

Conclusions: Our results suggest discrimination is a salient psychosocial risk factor for severity of MetS among AA.

Scientific American essay about COVID-19 inequities: Racism, not race

Scientific American just published my essay on why we should resist racial-genetic assumptions about the disproportionate toll of COVID-19 on Black people and communities.

Op-ed in response to student-led petition to make ANT3451 mandatory

Today I published an op-ed in the Gainesville Sun explaining why I do not support a student-led petition to make the course I teach on race and racism, ANT3451, mandatory for all UF students. The short version is that we need systemic change, rather than band-aid solutions, and it’s important for white people to listen, learn, and support Black scholars, students, and activists in the long-term struggle.

New paper: Racial discrimination associated with shortened telomeres

Our latest paper from the HEAT Heart Health study is out in the American Journal of Human Biology. This paper, led by Peter Rej, shows that racial discrimination is associated with shortened telomeres in a community-based sample of African American adults in Tallahassee, FL. Discrimination attributed to other causes did not show this association.

Update: For more on the what the paper means and how it fits into the larger HEAT Heart Health study, listen to this podcast interview with Connie Mulligan and me.

We are grateful that the article was selected as the Editor’s Choice for the current issue. That means it will be freely accessible without a subscription for the next three months. It also landed us a spot on the cover of the journal. The photo was taken during a meeting of our Steering Committee, as we were planning the survey on which the new article is based.