如何满足黑人心脏病专家的迫切需求

小唐雷兹·约翰逊. 一个成功的故事正在形成吗. 第一代大学生, he earned a biology degree from Tennessee State University and is on a fellowship helping improve health in Marion, 阿拉巴马州. 他的下一站:医学院，成为一名心脏病专家.

He's inspired by his experience seeing relatives die after inadequate hospital care – and he's determined to show others that growing up poor and Black does not mean you can't achieve great things.

在一个需要更多像他这样的人的领域，他也是一个罕见的人. 现在, efforts like the mentoring program that supported 约翰逊 along the way are working to take down barriers that historically have kept Black students from the entering the cardiology field.

Only 4% of cardiologists were Black women, according to a 2015 American College of Cardiology survey. 只有2%是黑人男性.

即将入学的医科学生的统计数据也不容乐观. 只有7个.在过去的学年里，有3%的学生是黑人, 根据美国医学院协会.

这对占美国人口13%的黑人来说是一个重大的医疗问题.4%的人口. One study estimated more Black doctors could reduce the gap in heart disease deaths between Black and white men by 19%. Black people have higher rates of high blood pressure and are more likely to die from heart disease than their white peers.

Recruiting doctors from rural or underserved communities also is important because they are more likely to return to that type of community, 诺玛·波尔-亨特说, AAMC多元化政策和项目的高级主管.

Debora 卡闵Mukaz, 佛蒙特大学的博士后助理, said having more Black doctors can help combat the distrust many Black people in the United States have toward the health care system, 谁有虐待他们的丑陋遗产. 但这些好处也适用于研究层面.

“科学就是艺术，”她说. “科学是创造性的工作. 我们有想法." And a scientist's background can inspire, motivate and shape the work he or she does.

但根深蒂固的, systemic racism remains a key barrier to developing more physicians and researchers of color, Poll-Hunter说. 她在2015年领导了一份关于 医学领域的黑人男性 这些问题早在医学院之前就开始了. 黑人, 拉丁美洲人, American Indian or Alaska Native and communities living in poverty are more likely to attend schools that don't have enough resources or don't offer a rigorous science or math curriculum.

卡闵Mukaz, 在刚果民主共和国长大的人, 忍受过一些结构性种族主义吗. She is hoping to highlight the depth and breadth of what Black cardiologists can do by being part of # BlackInCardio 周10月. 19-25. 这项努力的特点是研究人员的工作和心脏健康问题.

卡闵Mukaz, 谁的研究考察了与心血管健康相关的种族差异, said schools need to formalize networks of mentors and supporters that create an environment for success.

她说:“我们并不是要求他们溺爱黑人学生. "We're asking them to make it into a nurturing environment" that enables hard work in the academic setting. “培养孩子与学习驱动并不对立."

当学生顺利毕业或进入医学院时, “你通常是开拓者,卡闵Mukaz说. “你通常是唯一的一个，或者是少数人中的一个. And these institutions are not necessarily equipped to deal with some of the issues that come with being the only one, 即使你有非常聪明的学生."

Poll-Hunter说 many universities have developed premedical programs that "have really made a significant difference in diversity of the applicant pool to medical school."

她注意到他们的工作 夏季卫生专业教育计划该项目让学生在大学早期就接触到医疗行业. 由罗伯特·伍德·约翰逊基金会资助，美国医学遗产协会管理, 它帮助生产了超过8个,自1989年以来，来自不同社区的000名医生.

学生们称该项目“改变人生”,波尔-亨特说, and often say it was the first time they either saw a physician of color or someone to whom they could relate. "It was probably also the first time that someone ever told them they could actually do it – that they could be successful, and gave them the information to understand what those steps were to be successful and to get to the point of application and matriculation to medical school."

在田纳西州纳什维尔的范德比尔特大学(Vanderbilt University)，药理学教授乔伊. Barnett花了数年沙巴足球体育平台研究 美国心脏协会的努力 focused on developing cardiologists and researchers from underrepresented groups, such as through a 伙伴关系 传统的黑人学院和大学(HBCUs.

其中一项努力是支持本科生研究经验, 或确定, which pairs students with researchers at one of five participating medical schools for the summer. 除了科学的训练, 巴内特说, the goal is to send students a message that they have a place in the world of health and science.

"Not just, 'You're here as a visitor,'他说, "but 'You're here because you belong here.'"

这条信息对赫克托克·阿道克·马丁内斯起作用了. 他于2019年夏天与巴内特合作，并于2020年作为导师回来, 因为COVID-19，这个项目变成了虚拟.

Haddock-Martinez, 今年春天即将从波多黎各大学毕业的学生, 从三年级就想当医生了吗. 他16岁时就开始在研究实验室工作. And his motivation to study cardiovascular and neurological health is personal: As a teenager, 他在祖母中风后找到了她. 她活了下来，但再也不一样了.

即使有那么多的东西在推动他前进, 阿道克-马丁内斯，他认为自己既不是黑人也不是白人, 只是波多黎各人——几乎克制住了自己.

"Something that we hear a lot about in professional development workshops is impostor syndrome,他说. 例如, 你甚至可能不敢申请某个医疗项目，因为你说, “我不属于那里, 那不适合我.'"

他刚到范德比尔特时就是这样. 他说:“我记得那一刻我承受不住了。. “这些人犯了一个错误——我不应该在这里."

但这个项目的领导者“让我觉得自己被需要. 从那以后，它确实给我的信心带来了奇迹."

明年秋季, 他的目标是进医学院, 学习中风医学，并开始作为一名医生兼科学家的职业生涯.

约翰逊, 谁通过美国心脏协会的HBCU学者项目认识了巴内特, 他还计划在获得奖学金后去医学院学习. 他说他一路上得到了很多人的帮助, from the great-uncle who taught him the basics of research to the older HBCU Scholars who've mentored him.

“我想回馈我的社区，”他说. "I want to show little kids who look like me that I came from the same place that you are. 我曾经这样做过，我现在正在这样做，我要实现这个目标. 你也可以做到."

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