The Voice of Health Justice in a Time of Growing Silence

Why are health equity voices getting quieter online? 

Dr. Oni Blackstock, founder and executive director of Health Justice and a primary care and HIV physician, joins Marion Leary and Rebecca Love to talk about the engagement drop advocates are seeing on LinkedIn, why she left Twitter to protect her mental health, and how she balances speaking out with staying well. 

She shares the family lineage that keeps her going, from her physician mother who served Central Brooklyn to great-grandparents born during Reconstruction, plus her community-centered work on how AI gets used in healthcare and why she believes National Nurses United is showing the entire industry how organizing is done. 

Her advice for every nurse: find your sphere of influence and use it.

Article: Why Health Equity Voices Are Going Quiet Online, and What Nurses Can Do About It

Skip ahead:

0:59 - Welcome and guest introduction
2:24 - Roots in social justice: her mother's story
6:12 - Are advocates being algorithmically silenced?
9:34 - Leaving Twitter to protect her mental health
11:30 - Balancing speaking out with staying well
17:45 - Your voice matters
19:55 - A lineage of resilience, from Reconstruction to now
23:30 - Community-centered governance for health AI
25:47 - The Health Justice origin story
31:35 - Every nurse's sphere of influence

Helpful links:

• Connect with Dr. Oni Blackstock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oni-blackstock/
• Health Justice: https://www.healthjustice.co/
• About Dr. Blackstock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni_Blackstock
• National Nurses United: https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/
• Read the excerpt from Legacy by Dr. Uché Blackstock in the Harvard Gazette: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/02/was-racism-a-risk-factor-in-mothers-leukemia/

Listen to more episodes: nurse.org/lovenleary

🎙️ About The Love & Leary Podcast

Thank you for tuning in to The Love n' Leary Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share it with a colleague.

🌐 Connect With Us

• Official Website: Visit nurse.org/lovenleary for episodes, articles, and exclusive nursing resources.
• Watch on YouTube: Subscribe to  Love n' Leary Podcast YouTube to watch full video episodes and highlights

👥 Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn

Stay connected, network, and join the conversation with us professionally:

• Connect with Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalovenursing
• Connect with Marion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionleary

About Nurse.org: Empowering, entertaining, and uniting nurses worldwide. Explore more career guides, news, and community stories at Nurse.org.