Rachel Hardeman, University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) Associate Professor and Blue Cross Endowed Professor of Health and Racial Equity and Director of SPH’s Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity (CARHE), has been honored by STAT News as one of the 2023’s “Status Leaders” for her work in exposing racism’s role in maternal health disparities.

STAT, an influential media company focused on medicine, health tech, science, and public health, chose 46 leaders from across the country representing a range of professions and fields, including academia, business, government, biotechnology, medicine, and the nonprofit sector.

“Black people in the U.S. are three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white people,” STAT noted. “Hardeman studies how racism contributes to this disparity and works to narrow the gap — for example, by developing birthing centers that put patients’ culture at the center of care.”

STAT also highlighted Hardeman’s view that the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade would disproportionately impact Black people. “When we eliminate choice from the lives of people who have not had much choice to begin with we are going to exacerbate inequities across the board,” STAT quotes Hardeman as saying.

To develop the “Status Leaders” list, STAT’s editorial team engages in a months-long process to research and identify hundreds of finalists who made noteworthy contributions to their fields over the past year. Then, a panel of STAT reporters and editors winnow the list down to the final 46, “placing special emphasis on people who have sought to help others and build community in these often-divisive times.” Reflecting STAT’s commitment to science-focused topics, 46 reflects the number of chromosomes in human DNA.