Broadly speaking, Dr. William A. Smith—chief executive administrator of the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, distinguished professor of ethnic studies and education, and adjunct professor of psychiatry—studies the biopsychosocial effects of racism. But in his case, broad speaking only goes so far. As his diverse appointments on campus show, Dr. Smith’s work is grounded in interdisciplinary inquiry. Bringing together knowledge from all of these fields, Dr. Smith’s research focuses on “racial battle fatigue”—a framework he created to encompass both micro and macro-level racist aggressions targets of racism repeatedly face. Building on work within multiple disciplines, the racial battle fatigue framework investigates the cumulative emotional, psychological, physiological, and behavioral impacts of racism on racially minoritized individuals. Furthermore, his research draws connections to intergenerational racial trauma and racial epigenetics to provide a more comprehensive view of how chronic racism has biological and generational impacts. “Research is richer, and offers greater explanatory value, when you bring in the expertise of many disciplines to focus on a question,” explained Dr. Smith. “This model shows the varied ways that experiences of racial violence emerge as a systemic racism-related repetitive stress injury for targets of racism.”

And injury is the appropriate term. Dr. Smith stresses in his research the very physical toll racism has on the body. “Racism is coded in the body as violence and triggers similar physiological responses; the body perceives physical danger and induces stress to protect itself from the threat,” said Dr. Smith. Over time, the stress from this need for readiness accumulates, leading to long-term deterioration. Given the numerous ways racism can manifest, the effects of racial battle fatigue are profound—likely the largest public health crisis in the world.

The impact of Dr. Smith’s groundbreaking research on racial battle fatigue over just 20 years is nothing short of phenomenal, resonating across the academic research community and grassroots advocacy alike. Recognized globally for his contributions, Dr. Smith was named among the world’s top 2% of scientists by Stanford University from 2022 to 2024, a reflection of the extensive citations and far-reaching influence of his work. In 2023 and 2025, he ranked in the Top 1% of research professors in the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, cementing his pivotal role in advancing educational practice, shaping policy, and driving public discourse.

In addition to the global reach, for Dr. Smith, this work is also deeply personal. He started on this course of study because he wanted to understand what he saw in the racially divided Chicago-area neighborhood where he was raised. “I knew people hated me, but I didn’t understand why. I wanted answers.” His search led him through multiple degrees in a variety of disciplines, each that brought greater understanding to his lived experiences. “I have felt this in my body for most of my life. I could feel the psychological, emotional, biological, and behavioral impact. Because I had experienced this, as I saw more and more data, I was able to humanize the numbers in ways that helped me understand the information in a more holistic way.”

This personal, body-centered sense of understanding has similarly resonated within the communities that have been the focus of Dr. Smith’s research. “When I tell people about my research, they know what I mean. A lay person can talk about this and know the essence of what racial battle fatigue is, even if they haven’t read the research, because they have lived it.” He continued, “The elders of my community, folks who have never been in the academy, have told me, ‘You have given me terminology for my pain.’ I think that’s one of the great strengths of this work—it’s hit the grassroots and changed the ways that people think about their own lived experiences.”

Dr. Smith emphasized that understanding racial battle fatigue can dramatically shift perspectives on human behavior. For instance, teachers sometimes misunderstand the behaviors of racially minoritized students, interpreting their guardedness or hesitance as disengagement or resistance. However, if you understand racial battle fatigue, it makes sense that many of these young learners adopt defensive postures in the classroom as a means of protecting their psychological and physical safety from racist threats, both overt and subtle. This protective stance can prevent them from fully engaging in learning. In such contexts, resilience is deeply tied to fostering a sense of safety. Connection to others, laughter, meditation, and movement are well-known resilience factors that help people cope with stress, regardless of origin. These individual interventions can significantly alleviate racial battle fatigue, providing essential support to those affected. Dr. Smith emphasized that resilience and thriving begin by creating safety at a physical level, irrespective of whether it is for a student or an office worker: “When the body is freed from the burden of defense and feels truly safe, the mind is liberated to embrace its fullest potential, opening the door to deeper learning, growth, and joy in life.”

With the phenomenon of racial battle fatigue now thoroughly documented and examined at an individual level, Dr. Smith and his colleagues in the University of Utah’s new Center for Research on Race, Health Justice, & Public Policy are embarking on a groundbreaking endeavor to uncover and model the systemic factors driving this pervasive issue. Their ambitious goal is to delve into a comprehensive range of the interconnected problems—such as inequitable school funding, environmental racism, income disparities, over-policing and police violence, residential segregation, and access to healthcare and mental health services—that shape and perpetuate racial battle fatigue. The Center aims to uncover actionable strategies that can disrupt these cycles and foster improved outcomes for racially minoritized communities by analyzing how these systemic factors interact. Ultimately, they plan to identify pathways that can create real-world change. “This next phase of our research represents an exciting opportunity to move beyond individual experiences and address the systemic drivers of racial battle fatigue,” said Dr. Smith. “By studying the interconnected structures that perpetuate inequity—such as education, healthcare, and the criminal justice system—we aim to uncover actionable strategies that dismantle these barriers. This work is critical to fostering meaningful, sustainable change for racially minoritized communities and ensuring that equity is embedded at every level of our society.”