BLACK BABIES in America are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday than white babies. This shocking statistic has barely changed for many decades, and even after controlling for socioeconomic differences a wide mortality gap persists. Yet in 2020 researchers discovered a factor that appeared to reduce substantially a black baby’s risks. In their study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they wrote that “when Black newborns are cared for by Black physicians, the mortality penalty they suffer, as compared with White infants, is halved.”