Leaders in Medicine Are Blocking Future Black Doctors
My story happened 20 years ago, but it’s still happening today
I knew that I wanted to attend Brown University when I was a sophomore in high school. Our college counseling office had a database of schools that could be searched by keyword. I clicked on “Biology” and “Premedicine.” The list generated was alphabetical. Brown was first. The internet was just taking hold, and so I had to find the web address and type it directly into a browser window on a boxy Macintosh in our computer lab. There was a picture of an elegant brick building centered on a grassy green. The few, text-heavy pages talked about an “open” curriculum. There were no course requirements outside of your “concentration,” so you were free to explore as you wished. All classes could be taken without letter grades. It seemed perfect. I never looked back.
When I started at Brown several years later, I was finally a premedical student. Or, at least I hoped to be one. And so it felt natural to schedule a meeting with the dean who was, at the time, in charge of guiding all undergraduates who wished to attend medical school. So, in my first semester of my first year, I made my way to his office for our appointment.
The dean was nice enough. I don’t want to imply that his tone or his manner was…
