Despite the general decline in morbidity and mortality rates in the United States over the past century, African Americans still find themselves at a health disadvantage and represent more 40% of diagnosed cases of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, obesity and cancer. Studies in the fields of sociology and public health have focused on individual-level determinants of health, such as socioeconomic status and individual health behaviors. However, how and why place and neighborhood contribute to racial/ethnic health disparities has not been adequately studied. This analysis examines the health implications of racial segregation resulting from gentrification on African Americans, explores systems for measuring segregation, and suggests ways to move beyond traditional public health and health care approaches. health to impact relevant policies. race; African Americans; bias; policy; health disparities; gentrification; residential segregation; measures; diseaseIntroductionThe Center for Disease Control and Prevention defines gentrification as "the transformation of low-value neighborhoods into high values...gentrification is a housing, economic, and health problem that affects the history and culture of a community and reduces social capital often by changing the characteristics of a neighborhood by adding new stores and resources to previously blighted neighborhoods. Gentrification disproportionately affects particular populations, including the poor, women, children, the elderly, and a large majority of minority groups. Studies have found that these particular groups are at increased risk of experiencing the negative consequences of gentrification.... In the public health sciences, there has been a tendency to attribute much geographic variation to differences in composition and, until recently there has been resistance to contextual explanations. Contextual explanations of health are frequently rejected for fear of falling prey to ecological fallacy. The ecological fallacy infers that relationships observed at a global level will be observed in the same direction and to the same magnitude at the individual level. When looking at the relationship between African American health and residential segregation, what may be true for large groups measured in aggregate may not be true at the individual level. Not all people are displaced by gentrification and not all who are displaced are left in destitution..