Jonathan M. Metzl, the author of Dying of Whiteness, is an American author and psychiatrist. He was born on a military base and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. He stayed in Missouri for college, earning a Bachelor’s degree in both biology and English literature, and later an MD. Metzl completed his residency in psychiatry, a Master’s degree in poetry, and finally, a PhD in American Studies.

Through his education and experience growing up in the Midwest, Metzl became interested in how whiteness and racial anxiety affect public health. As a white man from Missouri, Metzl often remarks on his own privilege and closeness to his research subjects, which grants him a kind of insider perspective. He has a personal connection to each of the states where he conducts research. He grew up in Missouri, just blocks from the state line with Kansas, and recalls the frustration of watching childhood friends move away to attend Kansas’s more reputable schools. He also lived in Tennessee for a time while working and conducting research at Vanderbilt University. These connections lead Metzl to approach his research with a level of compassion that resists plotting “them, conservatives, versus us, enlightened liberals” (11).