VOA教育报道2023--Programs Aim to Increase Number of Black Doctors

Programs Aim to Increase Number of Black Doctors

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently said the U.S. Supreme¹ Court's ruling on affirmative action dealt a "serious blow" to the medical field's goal of increasing the number of Black doctors.

Affirmative action describes the idea that it is good for society to favor people who come from groups thought to have been discriminated² against in the past.

Earlier this year, the nation's high court ruled it is unlawful for colleges and universities to consider race in choosing students.

Because the Supreme Court's decision includes medical schools, the AMA said the ruling will hurt "gains made in the battle against health inequities.

Many medical schools used affirmative action ideas to increase the number of Black students. But even with those efforts, a University of California at Los Angeles study in 2021 said the percentage of Black doctors had only increased by four percent from 1900 to 2018.

Experts believe increasing the number of Black doctors could help Black people's health. Right now, only six percent of physicians in the U.S. are Black but 13 percent of the population is Black.

'A crisis³ of humanity⁴'

A series of reports by the Associated Press (AP) said that Black people do not get taken care of as well as white people starting at birth. The AP reported that patients said doctors ignored or brushed aside their concerns partly because of bias⁵ and racism⁶ within the U.S. medical system.

Uché Blackstock is an emergency doctor in New York City. He wrote a book called Legacy⁷: A Black Physician Reckons⁸ with Racism in Medicine.

He called the low number of Black doctors "a crisis of humanity."

Starling Tolliver is a 30-year-old Black doctor trying to influence people's opinions. She is in her final year of residency – or training – in dermatology. A dermatologist⁹ is a doctor who specializes in diseases of the skin. She is training at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

As a girl growing up in the Midwestern city of Akron, Ohio, she felt like her dream of being a doctor was out of reach. She did not often see doctors who looked like her when she went for treatments for a condition that caused her to lose her hair.

She stayed with her goal of becoming a doctor because she made an agreement with two friends. When they were young, they all said they wanted to be doctors, so they could help other Black people.

One of the friends, Charmaine, became a nurse and one, Maria, died as a teenager. Tolliver said Maria's death made her work harder.

"I'm going to continue to go on this path of medicine," Tolliver said. "Not only for myself, but for Maria, and to potentially help others in the future from similar backgrounds..."

Minorities less likely to seek care for skin problems

Tolliver's plan of being a skin doctor might be a good way to help Black people. The Association of American Medical Colleges says just 65 of almost 800 applicants¹¹ for residencies in dermatology were Black in 2020. But many Blacks do not go to dermatologists¹² for treatment.

The AP reports that minority patients are half as likely to see dermatologists when compared to white patients. Also, more Black men die from skin cancer compared to men of other races. That information came from a study published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Dr. Ashley Wysong was one of the writers. She said 75 percent of white men survive skin cancer but only 52 percent of Black men do.

She said if there is a difference in results for patients being treated for the same problem, "we have to look at ways that we are falling short."

Efforts to support minorities in dermatology

Some education experts say ending affirmative action might increase interest in medical schools at HBCUs, or historically black colleges and universities. Morehouse College, in Atlanta, receives over 7,000 medical school applications each year for only 115 openings. The medical school's president and CEO is Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice. She said she expects the number of applicants to rise at Morehouse and other HBCU medical schools.

Tolliver, the dermatology resident, said financial aid programs that target minority students who are interested in becoming doctors are important. The American Academy of Dermatology has a program called Pathways. Its goal is to increase the number of minority dermatology residents from 100 in 2022 to 250 by 2027. The program aims to help young people who are interested in medicine and guide them into dermatology.

It targets high school students and supports them as they go to college and medical school. Some receive financial aid.

Tolliver received financial aid from Ohio State University for her studies, but she also believes Pathways was important for her later training.

Financial aid and mentoring¹³

Azariah Providence¹⁴ is a 17-year-old high school student who lives in the U.S. Virgin¹⁵ Islands. She hopes to be a dermatologist one day. She joined the Pathways program last month. She wants to be a skin doctor so she can help other girls who have skin problems like she did.

She said she never had a chance to talk with and learn from minority college students and doctors before. Providence said it is important for Black people to learn to care for skin because some problems appear differently on Black skin than white skin.

She hopes more people who look like her can get "a correct diagnosis¹⁶...and the correct treatment," from dermatologists.

Adam Friedman is a dermatologist and the leader of the department at George Washington School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He said updating textbooks is important, but programs such as Pathways are very important.

As Tolliver finishes her training, she said she hopes she can push dermatologists to seek better outcomes¹⁷ – especially for Black women. She said her goal since childhood has been "for Black women to see the beauty of themselves, within themselves."

Words in This Story

inequities –n. unfair or unequal things

bias –n. to lean to one side; to not be balanced but, instead, to show only one side

potentially –adv. something that could be or has the possibility of becoming real

applicant¹⁰ –n. a person who is seeking entry into a school or trying to get a job; anyone who applies to get something

 

diagnosis –n. the act or process of finding out what disease, illness, sickness or other problem affects a patient

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

3 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

4 humanity   

n.人类，[总称]人(性)，人道[pl.]人文学科

参考例句：

• Such an act is a disgrace to humanity.这种行为是人类的耻辱。
• We should treat animals with humanity.我们应该以仁慈之心对待动物。

5 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

6 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

7 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

8 reckons   

计算( reckon的第三人称单数 )； 猜想； 考虑； 思忖

参考例句：

• In cricket, a no ball reckons as one run. 在板球中，投球违例要失一分。
• Any unemployed person reckons as deserving government help. 任何一个失业者都被认为应受到政府的帮助。

9 dermatologist   

n.皮肤科医师

参考例句：

• I think you should see a dermatologist first.我想你应当先看皮肤科大夫。
• The general practitioner referred her patient to a dermatologist.家庭医生把她的病人交给了皮肤科医生。

10 applicant   

n.申请人，求职者，请求者

参考例句：

• He was the hundredth applicant for the job. 他是第100个申请这项工作的人。
• In my estimation, the applicant is well qualified for this job. 据我看, 这位应征者完全具备这项工作的条件。

11 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

12 dermatologists   

n.皮肤病学家( dermatologist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Today dermatologists agree that the experiments were not conducted well. 今天，皮肤病学者承认，当时的实验操作上有误。 来自互联网
• Dermatologists consistently recommend the low-cost old favorites, but of good-quality. 皮肤学家一致推荐物美价廉的老品牌。 来自互联网

13 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网

14 providence   

n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝

参考例句：

• It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
• To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事，是违背上帝的意志的。

15 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

16 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

17 outcomes   

结果( outcome的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The two scenarios provide illustrations of consistent set of outcomes for range of possible policies. 这两个方案说明某一套可能采取的政策将会产生的一系列后果。
• We analyzed all the possible outcomes of your mission, Commander. 我们分析过所有可能的结果，指挥官。