Mehret Mandefro, MD, PhD
Dr. Mandefro is a physician and the Founder of Truth Aid Impact, blending art and science to tell stories that address barriers to wellbeing. An Emmy-nominated producer and writer, her work spans film, TV, and documentaries featured on platforms like Netflix and PBS. Recognized as one of Variety’s most impactful women in global entertainment, Mehret uses “audiovisual medicine” to shift cultural narratives. She holds degrees from Harvard, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Temple University, and has served as a White House Fellow and Chair of the Realness Institute.
Presentations from Facing Race 2024
National Health Equity Grand Rounds “Rewrite the Script: Narrative Transformation for Equity in Health”
Join us for the next National Health Equity Grand Rounds as we explore the power of narrative transformation to advance health equity. National thought leaders from diverse backgrounds—including physicians, authors, artists, and digital media experts—will share their insights on how to challenge harmful dominant narratives in medicine and reshape how we think about health.
Moderator(s): Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH Speakers: Rinku Sen, MS, Michelle Browder, Mehret Mandefro, MD, PhD, Garth Graham, MD, MPH, Bayard Love, MBA, MPThe Cost of Inheritance
The Cost of Inheritance explores the complex issue of reparations in the United States and takes a personal approach to understanding our history, systemic injustices, and racial inequities. We follow descendants of enslavers and the enslaved as they are reckoning with their past and trying to find a just way forward. Opposing views and challenges to the concept of reparations are also heard in the exposition of our complicated history. The film introduces viewers to those who are working toward common ground, despite their differing perspectives. The protagonists launch conversations, attempt to reconcile, and take specific actions that aspire to close the racial wealth gap in America. The disparate trajectory of lives, families, and communities impacted by structural racism unfolds through archival images of land, labor exploitation, and racial violence, set against a backdrop that depicts the pursuit of justice for Japanese internment survivors and survivors of the Holocaust.
Directed by Yoruba Richen, Produced by Lacey Shwartz and Mehret Mandefro
Speakers: Yoruba Richen, Lacey Shwartz, Mehret Mandefro, MD, PhD