One Book, One U shares poignant stories

University of Miami alumna Daisy Hernández is the author of the book "The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly Disease."

Daisy Hernández watched her aunt endure a painful disease that doctors could not name.

A journalist of Colombian descent, Hernández spent years researching the disease that ultimately took her aunt's life. It was Chagas, a disease that is spread by a parasite carried by the bug triatomine—known as the kissing bug—and affects about seven million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

"The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly Disease," authored by Hernández and named as one of the top 10 nonfiction books by Time magazine, is the One Book, One U selection for this academic year.

The One Book, One U program offers an opportunity for the University of Miami community to explore issues of diversity and inclusion through the reading of a selected text. One Book, One U is designed to engage the entire University community in dialogue about the human experience. Instructors are encouraged to include the book in their curriculum.

"I'm thrilled that ‘The Kissing Bug' has been chosen as the One Book, One U selection," said Hernández. "I began my research for this book during the last weeks that I was an M.F.A. student in the English Department at the University of Miami, so this is a homecoming for me and the book.

"I'm also very excited because South Florida is home to an incredible diaspora from Latin America, and the parasitic illness that I write about in the book—Chagas' disease—disproportionately affects the Latinx diaspora in the United States," Hernández said.

In her reporting, Hernández highlights how a disease that disproportionally affects marginalized people is an example of health disparities and racism in the United States.

"I hope students and other readers will experience new insights into racial equity and health care in the United States," said Hernández. "I write about realizing myself that we have a ‘Second America' in this country, an America where people might have a deadly disease that doctors don't even know to test for simply because the people in this ‘Second America' are from poor and working-class immigrant communities."

"In the book, I tell the stories of people who have stepped up to bring attention to these inequities," she said.

Jose Fabian Rodriguez Class, librarian assistant professor and director of Access Services and Learning Commons, said the One Book, One U committee chose the book because "the book has some engaging stories about topics that will resonate with UM students such as medicine, health care, genealogy, public health, geography, political science, biology, and business of health care.

"Our program is designed to promote awareness of critical societal issues," he said. "We want the UM community to understand the gravity of disparity in health care and how much the marginalized populations are misdiagnosed even if they have access to health care."

Hernández, who received her M.F.A. from the University in 2013, will visit the Coral Gables Campus for a special event at the Kislak Center at the University of Miami

Free copies of the book are available at the Otto G. Richter Library Access Services desk, while supplies last.

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