How to fill the crucial need for more Black cardiologists

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, 他在田纳西州立大学(Tennessee State University)获得了生物学学位，并获得了帮助马里昂改善健康状况的奖学金, 阿拉巴马州. His next stop: medical school and becoming a cardiologist.

他的灵感来自于自己亲眼目睹亲人因医院护理不足而死亡的经历——他决心告诉别人，在贫困和黑人家庭中长大并不意味着你不能成就伟大的事业.

He's also a rarity in a field that needs a lot more people like him. 现在, 像支持约翰逊一路走来的指导项目这样的努力正在努力消除历史上阻止黑人学生进入心脏病学领域的障碍.

2015年美国心脏病学会的一项调查显示，只有4%的心脏病专家是黑人女性. 只有2%是黑人男性.

The stats on medical students in the pipeline don't look any rosier. 只有7个.3% of students were Black this past academic year, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

That's a significant health care issue for Black Americans, who make up 13.4%的人口. 一项研究估计，更多的黑人医生可以将黑人和白人男性心脏病死亡率的差距减少19%. 与白人相比，黑人患高血压的几率更高，死于心脏病的可能性也更大.

从农村或服务不足的社区招募医生也很重要，因为他们更有可能回到这类社区, 诺玛·波尔-亨特说, the AAMC's senior director in diversity policy and programs.

Debora 卡闵Mukaz, a postdoctoral associate at the University of Vermont, 他说，拥有更多的黑人医生可以帮助消除美国许多黑人对医疗保健系统的不信任, which has an ugly legacy of mistreating them. But the benefits also apply at the research level.

“科学就是艺术，”她说. “科学是创造性的工作. 我们有想法.“科学家的背景可以启发、激励和塑造他或她所做的工作.

但根深蒂固的, 系统性的种族主义仍然是培养更多有色人种医生和研究人员的主要障碍, Poll-Hunter说. 她在2015年领导了一份关于 医学领域的黑人男性 that noted problems start well before medical school. 黑人, 拉丁美洲人, 美国印第安人或阿拉斯加原住民以及生活在贫困中的社区更有可能进入资源不足或不提供严格的科学或数学课程的学校.

卡闵Mukaz, who grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 忍受过一些结构性种族主义吗. 她希望通过参与，突出黑人心脏病专家所能做的深度和广度 # BlackInCardio 周10月. 19-25. The effort features the work of researchers and heart-health issues.

卡闵Mukaz, whose research examines racial disparities related to cardiovascular health, 他说，学校需要正式建立导师和支持者网络，为成功创造环境.

"We are not asking them to baby their Black students," she said. “我们要求他们把它变成一个培育环境”，让他们在学术环境中努力学习. "Being nurturing is not opposite to being academically driven."

When a student makes it to graduate or medical school, “你通常是开拓者,卡闵Mukaz说. "You are usually the only one or one of the few. 而这些机构并不一定有能力处理作为唯一机构所带来的一些问题, 即使你有非常聪明的学生."

波尔-亨特说，许多大学都开设了医学预科课程，这些课程“确实对医学院申请者的多样性产生了重大影响。."

她注意到他们的工作 夏季卫生专业教育计划, which exposes students to health careers early in college. Supported by the Robert Wood 约翰逊 Foundation and administered by the AAMC, 它帮助生产了超过8个,000 physicians from diverse communities since 1989.

学生们称该项目“改变人生”,波尔-亨特说, 他们经常说，这是他们第一次看到有色人种的医生，或者是他们能联系上的人. “这可能也是第一次有人告诉他们，他们真的可以做到——他们可以成功, 并向他们提供信息，让他们了解成功的步骤，以及如何进入医学院的申请和入学."

At Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, professor of pharmacology Joey V. Barnett花了数年沙巴足球体育平台研究 美国心脏协会的努力 专注于从代表性不足的群体中培养心脏病专家和研究人员，例如通过a 伙伴关系 with historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs.

One effort is the Supporting Undergraduate Research Experience, 或确定, 在五所参与的医学院中，哪一所将学生与研究人员配对. 除了科学的训练, 巴内特说, 其目的是向学生们传达这样一个信息:他们在健康和科学领域占有一席之地.

“不只是‘你来这里是作为游客’，”他说，“而是‘你来这里是因为你属于这里.'"

It's a message that worked on 赫克托耳Haddock-Martinez. He worked with Barnett in the summer of 2019 and came back as a mentor in 2020, when the program went virtual because of COVID-19.

Haddock-Martinez, who expects to graduate from the University of Puerto Rico this spring, 从三年级就想当医生了吗. He began working in research labs when he was only 16. 他研究心血管和神经健康的动机是个人的:作为一个青少年, he found his grandmother after she had a stroke. 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, Haddock-Martinez – who identifies as neither Black nor white, 只是波多黎各人——几乎克制住了自己.

“我们在专业发展研讨会上听到很多关于冒充者综合症的事情,他说. 例如, "you might not even dare to apply for a certain medical program because you say, “我不属于那里, 那不适合我.'"

That's how it was when he arrived at Vanderbilt. "I remember feeling like the moment was too much for me,他说. "And that these people have made a mistake – I'm not supposed to be here."

But the program's leaders "helped me feel wanted and needed. And it's certainly done wonders for my confidence ever since."

明年秋季, 他的目标是进医学院, studying stroke medicine and embarking on a career as a physician-scientist.

约翰逊, who met Barnett through the AHA's HBCU Scholars program, also plans to head to medical school after his fellowship. He said he's been helped by many people along the way, 从教他基础研究的叔祖父到指导他的HBCU老学者.

"I want to give back to my community,他说. “我想让像我一样的孩子们知道，我和你们来自同一个地方. I did this, I am doing this now, and I'm going to achieve this. 你也可以做到."

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