Black populations not only face higher rates of mortality and disease, but also earlier age of onset than other groups, creating a mismatch between chronological age and biological age. The HEARRT group focuses on understanding how social determinants of health, including environmental stress, structural racism, and external stress, lead to health disparities, with a focus on cardiovascular health and cognition.
Dr. Sarah Forrester is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Epidemiology in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences. Her research is in two primary focus areas – 1. understanding and preventing health inequities to improve the health of Black populations; and 2. how stress and biology interact to create health inequities. Dr. Forrester is particularly interested in inequitable social determinants of health due to structural inequalities and systemic racism’s effect on cardiovascular disease outcomes, cognitive function, and overall health in later life. Dr. Forrester is currently doing health inequity prevention work by using storytelling as an intervention to increase the participation of Black and Hispanic persons in COVID research.
