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CDC Researcher's Death Highlights Disparities Issue (ProPublica/NPR)

— 'You can't educate your way out of this problem'

MedpageToday

Shalon Irving was a well-educated, 36-year-old African American woman -- and was researching health disparities for the CDC. But 3 weeks after giving birth to her daughter Soleil.

Irving's death highlights just how profound health disparities really are, experts say. ""It tells you that you can't educate your way out of this problem. You can't health-care-access your way out of this problem," said her friend Raegan McDonald-Mosley, MD, chief medical officer for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

"There's something inherently wrong with the system that's not valuing the lives of black women equally to white women."