[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"conference-blog-article-afrotech-conference-uche-blackstock-health-equity-fight":3},{"id":4,"author":5,"authors":14,"title":16,"subTitle":9,"excerpt":17,"slug":18,"body":19,"categories":20,"tags":26,"featuredMedia":35,"publishedAt":43,"publishedAtGMT":44,"updatedAt":45,"updatedAtGMT":46,"type":47,"listicle":48,"disableContentGate":49,"disableListicleNumbers":49,"canonicalUrl":9,"socialThumbnail":9,"readingTime":50,"customFields":51,"additional":52,"acf":53},275557,{"id":6,"avatar":7,"firstName":8,"lastName":9,"displayName":10,"email":11,"username":10,"normalizedUsername":12,"description":9,"htmlBio":9,"twitter":9,"facebook":9,"instagram":9,"registeredAt":13},32,"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.afrotech.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2020\u002F06\u002FScreen-Shot-2023-02-28-at-4.54.31-PM.png","AFROTECH™","","AfroTech","AfroTech@blavity.com","afrotech","2018-09-24T13:05:40+00:00",[15],{"id":6,"avatar":7,"firstName":8,"lastName":9,"displayName":10,"email":11,"username":10,"normalizedUsername":12,"description":9,"htmlBio":9,"twitter":9,"facebook":9,"instagram":9,"registeredAt":13},"AFROTECH™ Speaker Uché Blackstock Honors Her Late Mother’s Legacy in the Fight for Health Equity","Dr. Uché Blackstock, told AFROTECH™ that her mother passed “before she could fully understand how profoundly her life would shape mine.”","afrotech-conference-uche-blackstock-health-equity-fight","\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Dr. Dale Blackstock became a physician at a time when few people who looked like her were welcome in medicine. She died of leukemia at 47.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Her daughter, Dr. Uché Blackstock, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fafrotech.com\u002Fcompanies-at-afrotech-conference-2026\">told AFROTECH™\u003C\u002Fa> that her mother passed “before she could fully understand how profoundly her life would shape mine.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">“My mother, the late Dr. Dale Blackstock, set almost everything in motion for me,” said Blackstock, the founder and CEO of \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.advancinghealthequity.com\">Advancing Health Equity\u003C\u002Fa> and a speaker at AFROTECH™ Conference 2026 in Houston.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch3 dir=\"ltr\">What She Learned Watching Her Mother\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Blackstock said seeing her mother practice medicine taught her two things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">“Watching her showed me that excellence and service could coexist, but it also taught me that representation alone isn’t enough,” she said. “People need support, advocacy, sponsorship, and the freedom to be fully themselves.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">That shapes how she shows up for others today: sharing information, opening doors and, in her words, “speaking people’s names in rooms they aren’t yet in.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch3 dir=\"ltr\">Why Did She Leave Academic Medicine?\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Blackstock spent nearly two decades in academic medicine before leaving to start Advancing Health Equity. On paper, she had made it. She was a respected physician, educator and leader. But she said her place there never felt secure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">“The hardest version of success was being highly accomplished in an institution where my belonging still felt conditional,” she said. “Leaving taught me something we don’t say often enough: not every form of success is meant to be sustained.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Her titles have changed since then. Physician, educator, media contributor, author and now entrepreneur. The goal hasn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">“My purpose has remained remarkably consistent: to help create a health care system in which Black people are seen, heard, valued, and able to receive the care they deserve,” Blackstock said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">She’s also the author of the New York Times bestseller “Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch3 dir=\"ltr\">Building Work That Lasts\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Blackstock said recent years have shown how quickly progress on equity can be rolled back when the political climate shifts. That’s made her focused on building things that hold up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">“We can’t build initiatives that depend entirely on institutional permission or public sentiment,” she said. “We have to build structures, resources, and communities that can withstand resistance and continue serving our communities.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Her message for the AFROTECH™ crowd comes from that same place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">“You don’t have to spend your life auditioning for belonging,” she said. “The goal isn’t simply to gain access to rooms that were never built for us. The goal is to become free enough to build something better.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">\u003Cstrong>Buy Your Ticket Today\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv role=\"feed\" aria-label=\"Chat messages\" aria-describedby=\"_r_g6_\">\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv tabindex=\"0\" role=\"article\" aria-setsize=\"32\" aria-posinset=\"32\" aria-label=\"Message 32 of 32\">\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">AFROTECH™ turns 10 this year, and you’ll want to be in the room for it. From the future of work to tech for good, this is where the ideas and the people driving them come together. \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fafrotechconference.com\u002F?utm_source=afrotech&utm_campaign=general&utm_medium=web\">Get your tickets\u003C\u002Fa> now for Nov. 2-5, 2026, in Houston, TX!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n",[21],{"id":22,"name":23,"slug":24,"description":9,"image":25},323,"News","news",null,[27,31],{"id":28,"name":29,"slug":30,"description":9,"image":9},16112,"Afrotech 2026","afrotech-2026",{"id":32,"name":33,"slug":34,"description":9,"image":9},8304,"AfroTech Conference","afrotech-conference",{"url":36,"thumbnail":36,"credit":37,"title":38,"alt":9,"type":39,"width":40,"height":41,"mimeType":42},"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.afrotech.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F10\u002FGettyImages-2174466223.jpg","John Lamparski\u002FGetty Images for Concordia Summit","2024 Concordia Annual Summit – September 25","image",160,107,"image\u002Fjpeg","2026-10-12T11:38:58-04:00","2026-10-12 15:38:58","2026-10-12T15:42:25-04:00","2026-10-12 19:42:25","default",[],false,2,{"disableConnatixPlayer":49},{"disableAd":49,"disableConnatixPlayer":49,"enabledComments":49,"headScript":25,"hidePhotoAttribution":49},{"reviewer_name":9}]