First-of-its-kind study at Emory University tracks the physical toll of racism
Emory University researchers are studying how everyday experiences with racism may have immediate and long-term effects on the brain and body - a connection participants say they can now see in real time.
The research team, led by Emory clinical neuropsychologist Dr. Negar Fani, is enrolling more than 200 Black adults in Atlanta to track how discrimination shapes stress responses. Participants record their experiences using Fabla, a voice-diary app developed at Emory, while wearing Fitbits that measure cardiovascular activity. They also complete MRI scans so researchers can observe how the brain processes those moments.
For Tanisha Dinkens, a Marietta mother of two, the study has revealed how often she internalizes stress.
"A lot of people in the Black community, we have to suppress feelings," Dinkens said. She says the app made it easy to document what she had previously pushed aside: "I was easily just able to open the app, press record, and just let it spill out."
As she moved through her day, the data showed her body responding to situations she thought she'd handled calmly.
"I'm just normally interacting with people day to day and not even realizing, like, wait a minute - your heart is beating super fast," she said.
Fani says those moments often go unnoticed, even as they activate powerful stress pathways.
"This is an insidious and invisible stressor," she said. "Most people don't stop to even acknowledge it as it's happening."
The team is working to identify what they call "imprints" of racism - patterns in the brain linked to hypervigilance, dissociation, or the tendency to replay stressful moments.
"Whether it engaged more hypervigilance... so they're being more watchful of things around them. Did they dissociate or tune out?" Fani said. "It sort of eats up energy, sort of thinking on a loop about the experience over and over."
Dr. Aziz Elbasheir, part of the Emory research team, said the effects can linger long after the moment passes.
"Even though it's out of the mind, that doesn't mean the stress is out of the body," he said.
Dinkens learned that firsthand after a tense interaction at her son's school, which she identified as racially biased.
"After I left the school and I checked the app, I see that my blood pressure was at a high rate," she said. The spike forced her to confront the physical toll of experiences she once dismissed.
"It allowed me to see how something like that can affect my physical health," she said. "I didn't really realize that racism causes stress like that, and in turn, it affects your internal organs."
Researchers are also testing potential interventions, including non-invasive brain stimulation tailored to each participant.
"We try to use different types of brain stimulation... tailored to that person's particular problem to help them with stress relief," Fani said.
For Dinkens, the study has been both validating and transformative.
"This allowed me to sit back and look at my health and say, 'Wow - this racism thing is systematic,'" she said.
She hopes the research will pave the way for change well beyond her own life.
"If not for me, the next generation... my kids are definitely going to feel the change," she said. "It's going to change the world."
Researchers are still enrolling volunteers. Anyone interested in joining the study can contact the team at NegarFani.com.