LAUREN UNDERWOOD’S LONG GAME
LAUREN UNDERWOOD had just started the master’s program in public health at Johns Hopkins University when she met fellow student Shalon Irving, whose life and death would ultimately help shape the future congresswoman’s career. “It was the first session, the first day, and Shalon was like, ‘Hey, girl.’ She was really bubbly, really kind.”
Underwood was telling me this during an interview by Zoom in February. I was nervous when the call began because my kids had been home from school for nine months and I was worried they might barge into my “office” in the middle of our interview to complain that their laptop wasn’t working or that we were all out of the good cereal. But Underwood’s direct, down-to-earth conversational style put me at ease; she came across as warm and energized, the same way she described her friend. “Shalon and I were, like, good girlfriends. We would pass notes, you know, go to dinner in Baltimore. We were telling each other about who we were dating.”
At the time, Underwood was 21, with a bachelor’s in nursing from the University of Michigan, and the youngest student in the master’s program. (Now, at 34, she is the youngest African American woman ever to serve in the House of Representatives.) After graduation, Underwood and Irving both went on to careers in public health, Irving as an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Underwood as a senior adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services, where she worked with the Obama administration on implementing the Affordable Care Act.
“THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH BLACK PEOPLE,” UNDERWOOD SAYS. “THIS IS ABOUT RACISM IN OUR HEALTH SYSTEM.”
In 2016, Underwood learned that Irving was expecting a child. “We were all so excited for her. She’d always wanted to be a mom and …” Underwood’s voice caught, hinting at an upwelling of emotion she seemingly hadn’t expected. She began to speak more slowly, as if keeping her reaction in check. “You know how it is with girlfriends, right? You’re in it with your friends.”
Underwood continued, explaining that when she got the good news about her friend’s baby coming, her federal job was wrapping up and she wasn’t sure what she’d do afterward. While she was mulling her next move, bad news followed the good. “Shalon was due in January, and we didn’t hear anything right away,” she said, “but I figured she was overwhelmed. Then I found out that she had died after giving birth.”
Irving had collapsed at home three weeks postdelivery, her death attributed to complications from the high blood pressure she’d been managing for years. As Underwood described going down to Atlanta for the funeral with a friend, she had to pause and take a deep breath. “It was … unimaginable. Her baby was there, her mom was”
