Perspectives S35/Ep47 The Scarlet Veil and Believe My Pain

The weather is cooler. Halloween is near and it's a great time to curl up by the fire with a good book. We start the show this week with a brief conversation with New York Times best-selling author Shelby Mahurin. Her latest book is The Scarlet Veil. It's a dark and thrilling vampire romance set in the world of Mahurin's Serpent & Dove series of tales. Next we talk with Dr. Tabia Akintobi, Professor and Chair of Community Health and Preventive Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine. MSM has partnered with the makers of Advil for the "Advil Pain Equity Project." It is a multi year commitment to help address pain inequity and racial bias in the diagnosis and treatment of pain. The initial campaign, "Believe My Pain" tells the stories of people who've experienced pain inequity. A survey of 2000 Americans found that 93-percent of Black individuals report pain impacting their day-to-day life. 83-percent report a negative experience when seeking help managing their pain, and three of four say they believe there is bias in how pain is diagnosed and treated. This project will also lead to a course at MSM to educate medical students on pain equity.