Renaisa S. Anthony MD, MPH is the Interim Director and appointed Deputy Director of the UNMC Center for Reducing Health Disparities (CRHD) in the College of Public Health. She is a licensed physician, public health practitioner, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Promotion. She earned her medical degree at the University of Chicago, public health degree at Harvard, medical training at Vanderbilt, and policy fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is committed to improving the health of women, children, families and communities and has dedicated such efforts both internationally and nationally at the NIH, Office of the Surgeon General, and Capitol Hill. In this talk, Dr. Anthony discusses the impact of race, gender, and background on her life and the lives of the people she serves. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)