Summer Series Ep1: Police Violence as a Public Health Issue with Dr. Rupa Marya

Woke WOC Docs

Police violence and law enforcement violence is a pressing public health issue. Period. In particular, indigenous, Black, Latinx, disabled, mentally ill and poor people are disproportionately targeted by police violence. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Rupa Marya who co-leads the Justice Study, a community-based study that researches health outcomes in communities where there is police violence and no justice. We talk about what true community partnership means, how art & music blend with Rupa's justice work, and how we can use white coat privileges to join in the fight for the communities that continue to experience trauma related to law enforcement violence. For more about the Justice Study, visit: https://www.donoharmcoalition.org/the-justice-study-english.html Bio: Rupa Marya, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine within the Division of Hospital Medicine. Her interests center around the intersection of society and illness, focusing research on how social structures may predispose different disadvantaged groups to certain illnesses. She is Faculty Director of the Do No Harm Coalition, a 450+ member strong group of health workers and students dedicated to ending racism and state violence. In partnership with Dr Sara Jumping Eagle, Dr Linda Black Elk and MASS Design Group, she is currently helping to set up the Mni Wiconi Health Clinic at Standing Rock, at the invitation of Lakota and Dakota health leaders to create a space for the practice of Decolonized Medicine. She is the co-investigator of The Justice Study, a national effort to understand the link between police violence and health outcomes in communities most affected by that violence. Since residency at UCSF, she has been the composer and front-woman for the international touring group Rupa & the April Fishes, a project that uses music as a way to explore the intersection of society and disease.