Systemic: How Racism Is Making Us Ill

(Paperback, Unabridged edition)

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A ground-breaking investigation into how racism corrodes science and medicine leading to worse treatment for everyone. 'A work of towering importance that will undoubtedly change science and save lives, but it will also change the way you see yourself and the people around you' Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People 'A groundbreaking, brilliantly argued book that debunks the myth that illness is the great equaliser' Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize winning-author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Song of the Cell We live in a society where: Black and Asian patients in the UK wait nearly a week longer for a cancer diagnosis Indigenous peoples across the world tend to experience a higher risk of cancers Globally, people of colour are not only more likely to die while giving birth, they are also more likely to die while being born or soon afterwards In this blistering investigation, science journalist Layal Liverpool unearths the shocking research and the vital solutions to the health threat of racism. Across the world, people belonging to marginalised racial and ethnic groups disproportionately experience poor health outcomes. And when a scientific bias is this pronounced, it results in worse treatment for everyone: making us collectively more ill, holding back medical research and reducing the potential for scientific discoveries. Drawing on years of research, interviews and cutting-edge data from across the world, Systemic is a clarion call for a healthier world for us all.

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Layal Liverpool has produced a work of towering importance that will undoubtedly change science and save lives, but it will also change the way you see yourself and the people around you. Systemic is beautifully written and scholarly but perhaps almost uniquely for such a book it is deeply personal and accessible, packed with compelling stories and fascinating details which are harnessed to make an impassioned argument for a better world -- Chris van Tulleken, bestselling author of Ultra-Processed People
A groundbreaking, brilliantly argued book that debunks the myth that illness is the great equaliser. With a strong foundation in science and biology, Layal Liverpool unequivocally proves that addressing bias in medicine and data gaps in research will lead to a healthier and more equal world -- Siddhartha Mukherjee, bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies, The Gene and The Song of the Cell
Systemic: How Racism is Making Us Ill is a poignant and timely work that intimately captures the authentic narratives of individuals. Layal's writing doesn't shy away from acknowledging the pain of systemic racism in healthcare but, much like my own experience shared in the book, transforms adversity into a catalyst for positive change. As a survivor of Stevens-Johnson syndrome, I feel deeply honoured by Layal's thoughtful approach, giving voice not only to my journey but also to the countless unspoken survivors and victims. May this transformative narrative pave the way for lasting change -- Kanayo Dike-Oduah
Across a global canvas Layal Liverpool deploys deep compassion, gut-wrenching testimony and peerless scientific journalism to show how racism lives and kills. But then she guides us to a revelation: once we know the truth of racism, its possible to chart a way to a health system in which anti-racism is medicine. Its a prescription that everyone needs -- Raj Patel, co-author of Inflamed
Scientifically and technically masterful but never lacking heart, Liverpool draws upon her own lived experiences with vulnerability and grace, so that readers may better understand their own -- Steven W. Thrasher, author of THE VIRAL UNDERCLASS

Author Bio

Layal Liverpool is a journalist whose work spans diverse science topics, including technology, physics, the environment and health, with a particular focus on inequalities in science, health and medicine. Her writing has appeared in Nature, New Scientist, WIRED, the Guardian and elsewhere. Before moving into journalism, Layal worked as a biomedical researcher at University College London and the University of Oxford. She has a PhD in virology and immunology from the University of Oxford. This is her first book.