When Stephanie Pickett was a nurse at Duke University Medical Center, more than 90% of the patients she saw with kidney failure were black. This shocking racial health disparity both bewildered her and inspired her to take action.
She went back to school to become a nurse practitioner, continued on to get her doctorate and focused her research on addressing the high rates of diabetes and hypertension in African Americans. Pickett’s recent work has investigated the relationship between the beliefs people have about their weight and their eating habits. For example, African American women who think their weight is caused by circumstances and factors out of their control are more likely to be obese.
Her mission is to develop effective health interventions for African American patients. Today she is an assistant professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Host Frank Stasio talks to Pickett about her research and what she is digging into next.
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