ANSONIA — Nationally, only two percent of American doctors are Black men.
And in 2014, less Black men applied to medical school than in 1978. Those staggering statistics from the Association of American Medical Colleges are the reasons why a Texas doctor is on mission to increase the number of Black men pursuing careers in medicine.
Dr. Dale Okorodudu started a movement in 2013 called ‘Black Men in White Coats’ and created a documentary of the same name that is gaining momentum across the country. The film is geared to “increase the number of black men in the field of medicine by exposure, inspiration and mentoring.”
The message hit home in the Valley Monday (Feb. 28) when a panel of area Black doctors gathered with Ansonia school officials for a Zoom discussion on the issue. Ansonia Schools’ Director of Equity and Communications, Dr. Reese Morales, organized the virtual event, with help from the school district’s physician, Dr. Domenic Casablanca, of Middlesex Health.
Morales invited the community at large to watch the 80-minute film beforehand and then discuss the issue with the panel. Morales said the film was also shown to Ansonia High School students in hopes of inspiring them, especially young Black men, to pursue a medical career.
Okorodudu in the film said growing up he didn’t see people who looked like him in medical roles, especially doctors. His experience was similar to several of the doctors on Monday’s night panel. He is working hard to end the stigma of ‘you can’t be what you can’t see.’
Dr. Don-Andre Jackson, a Rheumatologist at Griffin Hospital, came to the U.S. from Jamaica when he nine years old, and didn’t encounter his first Black doctor here some 15 years later when he was in medical school.
“The presence of Black men in medicine is quite low,” he said. “I am a unicorn in Rheumatology. We need to let students know that this is an option for them.”
Whether it’s a lack of role models, exposure, socio- and economic factors, college costs or other factors preventing Black men from entering the medical field, one thing the panel agreed upon is that those statistics need to change.
Mentoring students, particularly young Black boys, and instilling confidence in them, before society imposes their opinions of them as they grow into Black men, must happen, according to New Haven pediatric specialist Dr. Tamika Jackson-McArthur.
“As young black boys get older, they get stigmatized, and we’ve got to stop that from happening,” she said. “It’s a social ill. We have to flip the switch.”
Ansonia’s Diane Stroman, who runs a mentoring program in Ansonia schools, said reaching kids at a young age is key.
“We can’t wait until they get to the high school level; we have to get to the babies so they can understand what they can be,” Stroman said.
Dr. Lesly Valbrun, a Black chiropractor at the University of Bridgeport and Community Health Center, Inc., said he took a job in a community-based setting for a specific reason.
“I can actually help people who do look like me, and that’s one of the reasons I work in a community help center,” Valbrun said. “I’ve had mentors along the way guiding me who made the difference for me. And I have had patients come to me saying I was their first Black doctor, and these are patients in their 50s. In reality it is the norm, and hopefully we can change those trends.”
Morales encouraged people to check out the Black Men in White Coats website at:
Let’s increase the number of black men in medicine — Black Men in White Coats
He was also encouraged that many of the doctors on the panel agreed to serve as mentors to students, including Dr. Olgubenga Arole, an internal medicine specialist at Griffin Hospital. Arole grew up in Nigeria, and grew up around Black doctors, and didn’t realize the disproportionate number of Black doctors until he came to the U.S.
“I was exposed to doctors with similar complexions like me growing up; but until I came here and had a Black student interning with me, I learned I was the first and only Black physician he came across in the students’ third year in medical school. That was really very shocking.”
