REEL REVIEW: BLACK MEN IN WHITE COATS

By Karen Dahl with Special Thanks to Lerraughn Morgan, MD

In February, the Valley Children’s Pediatric Residency Program celebrated Black History Month and one of the activities was a screening and discussion of the documentary Black Men in White Coats. Being neither black nor a man, I thought I would learn quite a bit from this film. Well, that turned out to be a significant understatement. The documentary is the story behind a movement of the same name with the following mission: “to increase the number of black men in the field of medicine by exposure, inspiration, and mentoring. To accomplish this, we are partnering with various medical schools across the country to produce outstanding short documentary videos which bring awareness to this issue that not only affects the black male population, but also the nation as a whole.”

The film highlights the crisis of lack of diversity in our profession and the consequences this has on the health of the black community (black men in the US have the lowest life expectancy). Did you know that less black men applied to medical school in 2014 than in 1978? How did that happen? A common tagline in the documentary is “You can’t be what you can’t see” and only 2% of American doctors are black men. In our culture, images of black men in sports and entertainment (and incarcerated) are far more prevalent than images of black men in scientific fields such as medicine and engineering. This documentary presents a problem, but the solutions discussed in the film are mostly for the black community and for medical school admissions processes.

I will admit that some of what I learned made me uncomfortable with my privilege and lack of awareness and support for the issues identified. But most importantly, it led me to do something. During the discussion after the film, one of the participants asked “What can I do?” Dr. Michael Galvez, who has a passion for mentoring black and brown students, said “Just do something.” Our pediatric residents pondered asking about career goals during well child visits at a very early age and being a source of affirmation and encouragement for children who want to succeed beyond athletics.

This idea was inspired by the following story from one of my colleagues, Dr. Lerraughn Morgan, who examined an 8-year-old African American boy in the cardiology clinic. “As I proceeded through my evaluation, I casually asked the young man ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ He enthusiastically replied ‘an engineer’. Although his quick and decisive reply was not anticipated, what caught me off guard was that his mother was crying. When I asked her why she was crying, her response was that no one had ever asked him this question. This experience resonated with me as an African-American male. This demonstrates how important it is as a community to motivate children of underrepresented minorities to explore fields such as science, technology, engineering, and medicine.”

Please join FMMS in doing something: we are offering free screenings of this film through FMMS Connect the Docs viewing and sponsoring a discussion zoom call on May 6th. For other ideas, check out the following website: https:// www.blackmeninwhitecoats.org/the-mission/. There, you can watch video series and podcasts. If you are inspired to become a mentor, you can sign up at this website: https:// www.blackmeninwhitecoats.org/500-mentors/. Since black men make up only 2% of physicians in the US, help is needed from other communities to become mentors. Each of us has a history of success on the road to becoming a physician, and understands the discipline and commitment needed to succeed and therefore we each have something to contribute to young men considering this field. Just do something!