Racial health disparities are a significant public health problem, plaguing people from marginalized racial groups with shorter lifespans and fewer disease-free, healthy years than their White counterparts. What are the mechanisms through which these disparities develop? In this talk, I will present recent data from our lab suggesting that discrimination leads to changes in brain functioning and in physiological states that could lead to poor health over time. Evidence from neuroimaging (fMRI) and psychoneuroimmunological studies will be presented. Together, this nascent body of work demonstrates that discrimination gets into the skull and under the skin to shift health trajectories, likely contributing to racial health disparities. Interventions that target the widespread discrimination minoritized individuals encounter are thus necessary to ameliorate these disparities and promote thriving for all.
