Black men in white coats offer representation in medicine

How BLACK ENTERPRISESas we have previously reported, black people live longer in counties with higher concentrations of black physicians. In conjunction with this research, Black Men in White Coats organized a youth summit on May 4 for Milwaukee-area youth.

Fox 6 Milwaukee reports that the group’s event reflects its intended purpose increase the variety of black men in the medical field through exposure, inspiration and mentoring. The event took place on the upper campus of the Golda Meir School in Milwaukee. Mark Ehioghae, a student on the Medical College of Wisconsin, said the event was designed in order that young black children could sooner or later imagine themselves wearing those white coats.

“We try to let these kids see themselves as they would be in the (operating room),” Ehioghae said. “They use their hands. They are active, they feel what it is like to be a surgeon.” Ehioghae continued, encouraging the kids to maintain dreaming. “No dream is too big. I am a witness of this and you will be a witness of this. Find the right mentor and keep going. I promise you that you will get to where I am today.”

The organizer of the youth summit, Dr. Ugwuje Maduekwe, said the event was closely aligned with the mission of the Black Men in White Coats. “Black men in medicine are in the spotlight today because they are the least represented demographic group for which we have data,” Dr. Maduekwe said. “Black men in the United States have the worst health, and we also know that their health is better when they are cared for by doctors who look like them.”

In 2023 it was reported that lack of black doctors originates from reforms in the early nineteenth and twentieth centuries that made it difficult and discouraged black physicians to acquire licenses to practice medicine in the United States. Driven by racist fear of what black physicians would mean for his or her a part of the career, the white physicians who founded the American Medical Association kept black physicians from joining their ranks.

Much just like the United States implemented the GI Bill after the world wars, the AMA essentially made it unattainable for black physicians to exist, nevertheless it never explicitly prohibited black physicians from joining its organization. The results of this adopted policy was an essentially separate system in which black physicians, unaffiliated with the AMA, would treat black patients, while white physicians would treat white patients. This culminated in the publication of the Flexner Report in 1910, which had the chilling effect of closing all but two black medical schools then in existence. This has consequences today, as experts say only about 6% of doctors in America are black constitutes a threat to public health.

New York obstetrician and gynecologist Nwameka Ugokwe told Haverford College in 2021 that addressing systemic racism could be very helpful towards reducing health disparities.

Systemic racism plays a giant role in health disparities,” Ugokwe said. “I work in some of the underserved areas of Brooklyn — just about all of my patients are black or brown. There is a scarcity of prenatal care in our area and there are numerous premature births and teenage pregnancies. If it weren’t for our hospital, people in this area would have an enormous problem getting health care.”

Traci Trice, a family medicine physician, agreed, telling Haverford how vital it’s to make sure that Black patients are represented by physicians participating in the U.S. health care system. “Both medical students and physicians benefit from diverse colleagues who can share their experiences and also introduce them to new ones. “Diversity increases doctors’ levels of empathy towards each other and towards patients from different backgrounds,” he says. “We need more black doctors because the health of the population depends on it.”