COURTESY CHARLOTTE MEDICAL SOCIETY

Members of the Charlotte Medical Society provide support to minority health professionals. The organization was founded in 1900 by Dr. Allen Wyche during the Jim Crow era.

A Charlotte nonprofit recognizes Black excellence across the health field.

The Charlotte Medical, Dental, and Pharmaceutical Society, formally known as Charlotte Medical Society, provides support to minority health professionals. The society was organized in 1900 by Dr. Allen Wyche amid the Jim Crow era to promote healthcare for Charlotteans of color.

“So with [the former] Carolinas Medical Center and Presbyterian [Hospital] kind of being really old institutions, it's always been difficult for African Americans physicians to be included in the development of these organizations,” said Dr. Matthew Brothers, pediatric cardiologist at Novant Health and president of the CMDP. “Of course, as far as clearly being hired and practicing, and then patients being taken care of appropriately the medical professional group developed to support each other as they navigate segregation and different barriers.”

With Brothers coming from a family of doctors – his mother worked in public health and his father was a rheumatologist – he had personal examples to look up to. However, many Black doctors did not have a role model or someone that looked like them in the field. With Blacks making up 6% of medical school graduates in the United States compared to whites at 55%, it reflects the lack of representation in today’s healthcare system.
It wasn’t always that way.

Segregation mixed with racism further widened the gap with Blacks only allowed to receive care at Black hospitals.

In 1891, Charlotte’s Good Samaritan Hospital was the first private hospital in North Carolina to treat Black people. It was closed in 1982 and absorbed by Charlotte Memorial Hospital, the anchor campus of today’s Atrium Health.

Today, hospital companies are recruiting medical school candidates from historically Black colleges and universities, which medical leaders believe will provide more opportunities to increase the number of students of color.

“Our goal is to have you ‘hire to retire,’ I like to say,” said Kalin Griffin, vice president of people and culture at Novant Health. “They can start as an intern and work your way up and go in many different paths.”

There are no specific data to showing how many Black doctors are employed at Novant Health in Charlotte according to the hospital company’s communications department, but Novant insists its providers reflect the communities they serve.

Black patient healthcare
African Americans remain the least-healthy ethnic group in the United States following years of racial and social injustice, and challenges to equitable healthcare, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Blacks are number one for most chronic conditions such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

Blacks are 50% more likely to have high blood pressure compared to whites with Blacks ages 18-49, are twice as likely to have heart disease compared to whites.

With 34% of Black people that have died from COVID, more Black women dying after giving birth, and many Blacks going undiagnosed at the doctor, it's time for a revolution in Black healthcare.


Goal: Deeper pool of doctors
The solution to addressing these health inequities is simple. Hiring more Black doctors.

With more African American doctors, these physicians are more likely to spot common illnesses that may go undiagnosed at first to white doctors can be detected early and improve the quality of life of minority patients.

Novant Health Hospital is working with HBCUs and Black medical schools across the United States to hire more doctors of color to reflect the demographic of its patients. The hospital provides an endowed scholarship at Johnson C. Smith University to support students pursuing a career in medicine.

“We have done quite a bit of outreach and communication regarding openings for our HBCU like a Presidential Scholarship Program that already exists, specifically at Howard University,” Griffin said. “We're hiring at Meharry Medical College, at Morehouse School of Medicine and then, continuing to develop our, again total rewards and incentives to chop them, including loan forgiveness and training stipend payments for that position.”

Atrium Health is also on board with diversity efforts through system resource groups, such as the African American Women Exemplifying Commitment to Equity and Leadership.

“The ladies in this group are focused, intellectual, African-American women and their allies who are looking for avenues through which they can develop, grow and expand their network with other women throughout the system,” Atrium Health President and CEO Eugene Woods said in a statement. “They are dedicated to fostering connectivity and addressing the needs of African American women to access education, community partnership, and leadership development. These are just some of the ways we're creating opportunities for women in our system to grow to thrive.”

Charlotte Medical Society includes a range of Black health professionals such as doctors, dentists, and pharmacists.

“They're all connected and so kind of partnering together has been good to help each other professionally because we kind of go through similar things,” Brothers said. “And then also in the source community stuff. It's good to be connected with all these other parts of it.”

Deveney Franklin, a third-year UNC-Chapel Hill medical student, met several mentors through Charlotte Medical Society.  

As a former co-president of the Student National Medical Association chapter at UNC, she networked with pre-med students at HBCUs across the state such as JCSU to help them with their personal statements, resumes, advising them on what classes to take, and how to stand out in the field.

“That’s something important to me as I continue to rise in my career field,” said Franklin, a Charlotte native who is completing clinical rotations and didactics at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center. “That I make sure that I don't forget those that are like traveling the same path as me but may be a little bit further behind and making sure that I give back in whatever sense.”

In the future, the medical society aims to work more closely with JCSU pre-med students.
“We're kind of in the very beginning stages of trying to partner with Johnson C. Smith, to do a mentoring program with pre-health students over there,” Brothers said.

Aaliyah Bowden, who covers health at The Post, is a Report For America corps member.

 

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