Faces of Medicine is a participatory documentary project centering on the path of Black female physicians in the United States. It will describe the current landscape of Black women in medicine and recognize the trailblazing work of Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first Black female physician in the US, who graduated from the New England Women's Medical College in 1864.
I am interviewing Black female physicians from diverse backgrounds. The range spans from an Endocrinologist who immigrated to the US as a child to an Emergency physician whose Alabama ancestry goes back 200 years. I will also explore family circumstances from first college graduates to second generation physicians. Their journeys will be woven into a quilt representing unheard voices and untold stories.
My hope is that any Black or brown woman considering a career in medicine can find herself in one of our stories. All viewers will gain a new perspective on what their next doctor might look like. The development of the documentary parallels a writing project that goes into greater depth on each physician's journey.
The audience for this work is as broad as its benefits. Recent studies have demonstrated that having a Black pediatrician can lead to a 50% reduction in the infant mortality rate for Black infants, which is more than twice that of white infants. Similar trends have been seen in other health outcomes when there is racial concordance between the patient and the healthcare provider. The reasons for these findings are likely complex and multifactorial, but the impact of diversity in the health care team cannot be ignored. If this project results in even one Black or brown young woman becoming a physician, it will have had a meaningful impact, both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Viewers who are interested in improving health equity will see perspectives they may not otherwise be able to access. Anyone who interacts with healthcare providers — which is to say, all of us — will have an opportunity to shift their bias. This undertaking is part of the long game of health equity work. During this process I will be quietly working towards establishing a nonprofit organization to help historically underrepresented people enter the pipeline of health careers. The first step, however, is creating more awareness through compelling storytelling.
