Race and Medicine

Birthday Party in Manhattan!

I was in Manhattan for my friend Marilyn’s 80th birthday party this evening. I loved seeing several old friends and celebrating with Marilyn and her wife Betty.

Marilyn’s sister Judy came with three of her children for the weekend.

Ten days ago Marilyn was crossing the street in New York and fell flat. She was not seriously injured.

She looked very dramatic tonight with the large bruise on her face.

The champagne, the food, and the wine, all delicious. I gave one of the four toasts to Marilyn. It was a delightful evening.

Racial Burden Borne by Medical Residents

I get regular updates from Yale University and Yale’s School of Management. Recent news from the university had a report of a study done at the medical school designed to find out if students of color bore an extra burden during residency because of their race. “The research team, led by Dr. Aba Osseo-Asare, conducted qualitative interviews with more than two dozen minority residents during a conference in 2017.”

I won’t leave you in suspense – no surprise; the answer is yes.

The participants were questioned about their general experience in residency and the climate in their program. More specific questions asked for their experiences with racial incidents.

The responses revealed three major themes:

“Minority residents described daily experience of bias and microaggressions.

“They also detailed being asked to serve as race/ethnicity “ambassadors” to help resolve issues of diversity at their institutions.

“Third, the residents reported experiencing a dichotomy between their professional and personal identities. Instances of bias were often subtle or covert.”

The study’s author made some solid recommendations. Will the medical schools and program administrators follow up?

Another physician at Yale has written on the issue of bringing more minority students into the field, to become closer to the percentage of minorities in the US population.

“Minority groups will comprise a majority of the U.S. population by 2044, yet less than 10% of physicians are racial or ethnic minorities, the writer says.

My Daughter’s Comments

I was at my daughter’s home in Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania. She’s a medical doctor. So I asked her opinion about these questions, hoping for an example of the bias she’s experienced.

Instead she said, “Stop talking about this! We’re turning white America against minorities.” She believes white people, even well-meaning white people, are getting tired of all the articles, speeches, and blogs on racism along with other related issues around prejudice and oppression.

She’s preparing five-year old Ikem’s breakfast and modifying her opinion. “I don’t think we should stop talking about it, but we should turn down the volume.”

For people with good intentions, it can lead to overload and a feeling of powerlessness.

For those who want to take America back to “the good old times when people knew their place,” the constant reminders make white people feel threatened and attacked. Women did not speak up, Blacks did not demand equality then.

Beth says, “We’re feeding the fear of those in power, and the backlash is evident in society today.”

Another View of Racism in Medical Training

Tonight at Marilyn’s birthday party in Manhattan, I met a psychiatrist. He is Asian-American. I asked how he got into psychiatry.

He said, “When I was in med school in the early 1960’s, I felt alone. Other students tended to ignore me and I was depressed. Another student said I should go to the health center. I assured him I was not ill. He said, ‘No, you should see a psychiatrist.’

So I did. I loved how he really listened to me. I loved his demeanor, and I loved his office. That was it!”

Nigerian Cuisine and Easy Delivery

In research for my new book on Nigerian cuisine, I found The Ultimate Nigerian Cookbook by Chy Anegbu. It’s available on Amazon.

She has a blog about Nigerian food too.

The book is also available in Nigeria. In addition to being intrigued by the book, I was even more delighted by these instructions:

“Once you make payment either with your card(online) or through cash deposit (or transfer), Just call 08035051468/ 08029613796 or email chy@allnigerianfoods.com with your address, full name and phone number. You can use the address of your office, Church, Mosque, home or even your friend’s address, we would deliver the book within 3-6 working days if you live in Nigeria and 3-4 weeks for Other countries of the world.”

More about Nigerian cuisine next time!