And what we MUST learn from them!
So it’s Black History Month in the UK and you want to learn a bit more about the people who shaped medicine?
You’re in the right place an aspiring medic doctor or medical student. you need to be able to appreciate the diversity and Culture that has shaped medicine as we know it.
Today, we’re going to learn about 10 black figures who have shaped modern medicine.
But before I get into it, why is Black history month important to you?
Now, more than ever it is so important that all healthcare professionals work actively to dismantle systemic racism.
We must build for ourselves the society they are patients, colleagues and selves want and need.
What’s more, is that the history of medicine is pretty much guaranteed to come up in your interviews.
So if you’re looking for what’s in it for you, is smashing your medical school interviews!
Wait there!
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1. Professor Dunkley-Bent .
The NHS has appointed Dunkley-Bent as the most senior midwife in the country. Her new role is focused on ensuring safer births for women in England and overseeing the midwifery operations in the country.
She will be working with the NHS as part of the long term plan.
2.Vivien Theodore Thomas.
Viven thomas was an american laboratory supervisor, and assistant to Alfred Blalock.
He served as a laboratory supervisor at John Hopkins for 35 years before becoming a pioneer in cardiac surgery.
He ended up teaching cardiac surgeons the new procedure that he had designed to treat Blue baby syndrome.
However, due to his race, his work put a rift in his relationship with Blalock. Unfortunately, Thomas’ name did not mention in official articles about the procedure, he also was not pictured in the official team photographs.
One of Thomas’ surgical techniques was an Atrial sepectomy. Having performed his technique so immaculately, Blalock told him that his work looked like “something the lord made”.
What have we learnt from Vivien Thomas?
- Credit your black peers and colleagues for their work, and promote them so that others will credit them too.
- Listen to the ideas of marginalised groups and do not make assumptions about their capability.
- Work collaboratively, without discrimination to achieve better things.
Black history month! 3.Dr Ben Carson
Beginning his life as a poor student, he thrived and went on to achieve academic honours.
Firstly, Carson attended a small seven-day Adventist school for primary, as a result, his education lagged by about a year when starting a new school in Detroit. Carsons’ Mother insisted they wrote two library book reports per week and he began to catch his classmates up.
He is a renowned neurosurgeon, who became director of paediatric surgery at John Hopkins hospital at just 33. He completed groundbreaking work in the separation of conjoined twins.
Carson was subject to a violent temper as a teenager, and he talks in his book “ Gifted hands” about a time when he tried to stab a close classmate, and was thankfully unsuccessful. Carson.
Furthermore, he also performed the first successful neurosurgery on a foetus inside the womb. Developing new ways to treat brain stem tumours. Whats more, he worked to find improved treatments for seizures.
He entered politics, later becoming President Trump’s secretary of the department of housing and urban development.
What can we learn from Dr Ben Carson?
- It shouldn’t have to be a success story that a black man went from poverty to incredible success. Yet it is.
- More support is needed for black youths in underprivileged areas, to prevent crime. Nationally and Globally.
Black history month: 4. Dr Rebecca lee Crumpler
Dr Crumpler was the first black woman to become a doctor in the United states of America!
She began as a nurse and her transition to becoming a doctor was hard work! It took many letters of recommendation to achieve what she did.
Finally, she achieved her qualification during the american Civi war.
Crumpler went on to support many Black Americans who would have not otherwise received necessary medical care post-war.
What can we learn from Dr Crumpler?
- Black female doctors are just as deserving as anybody else and we need to make a collective effort not to mistake them for being in a role that is perceived to be less senior, just because of racist stereotypes.
- Black women are awesome!
Black history month: Some more names- Black-British history specific:
- Dr Harold moody- A Jamaican man, moved to the UK in 1904. Moody studied at King’s College, but racial prejudice prevented him from obtaining a hospital post. He started his own practice in Peckham.
- Dr John Alcindor- Born in Trinidad, he studied in Edinburgh, graduated with 1st class honours and established a practice in Paddington. It was one of the first black GP practices in the UK.
- Dr franklin Jacobs- attended the University of the West Indies to study medicine and moved to Britain, where he worked for the NHS in North London. Since 1982 he has run his own general practice and Worked to establish the “African Caribbean medical society”. They aim to raise awareness and understanding of health issues within Black communities.
So what can we learn overall:
Black people have achieved incredible things, despite systemic racism and a system designed to oppress for hundreds of years.
Blackness should be celebrated.
There are thousands of people alive today who wouldn’t be if it weren’t for the hard work and resilience of Black health care professionals across the world.
We can all make a greater effort to be actively anti-racist and especially during this month, shine the light on Black excellence.
If you are a Black person or ethnic minority, you can do whatever you put your mind to and these are some examples that have gone before you!
Wrapping up:
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Please note that this is for light educational purposes only, all my information has come from other websites, and journals. I have simply collated it for your ease. All sources are referenced.