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Inspirational black doctors

As the first black president of the United States waits to be sworn in, Akshay Shah and Rakhee Shah investigate three inspiring black doctors

In 1938, Charls Drew, published a doctoral thesis,"Banked Blood," which documented blood preservation techniques

History tells a people where they still must go and what they still must be

John Henrik Clarke, pan-African author, doctor, poet, journalist, historian, and teacher

People have struggled throughout history to gain recognition for their contributions to the arts or science because of their caste, colour, or creed. By reflecting on the past and appreciating the knowledge these people have passed down to us we can move forward as a society, irrespective of race.

The historian Carter Woodson’s celebration of President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglas, which began in 1926, has led to the annual black history month (www.black-history-month.co.uk), celebrated in October in the United Kingdom and in February in the United States and Canada. Designed to celebrate the history, heritage, culture, and contributions of black people and black communities, black history month causes great controversy. Some people argue that the celebrations are unfair and have become ritualised, and that they have consequently lost value over the years. Others argue that there remain many inequalities for black people in many parts of society and that organised remembrance provides a platform from which to raise these issues.

Mae Jemison became the first black woman to travel into space when she went into orbit abroad the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992

In this article we will talk about three great black pioneers in medicine who have made ground breaking contributions to research, but whose great exploits may not always have received the limelight they deserve.

In the early 20th century, the demands of medical practice were evolving. Researchers’ interest shifted toward scientific medicine because improvements in public health, sanitation, and nutrition had changed the scope of illnesses encountered in the West. The first world war exposed a need for better wound management and imaging techniques. The second world war brought with it a great need to be able to store blood for longer periods of time, a demand for which Charles Drew had an answer.

The blood banker

Born in 1904 in Washington, DC, Charles Drew attended a predominantly black public (state) school, and his talent in athletics gained him a scholarship to Amherst College, western Massachusetts, where he attained a bachelor of arts degree in 1926. Having gained his medical degree and a masters degree in surgery in 1933 from McGill University, Canada, he taught and assisted in surgery at Freedman’s Hospital.¹

Ben Carson became the director of paediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, US, when he was 33 years old.

In 1938, in response to the military emergency of the second world war, Dr Drew published a doctoral thesis, “Banked Blood,” which documented blood preservation techniques.² He noted that, if red blood cells were separated from plasma, it was possible to store the plasma separately, and it would last much longer than whole blood. As the war intensified and the need for blood plasma rose, Drew, now a leading authority in the discipline, was appointed as the full time medical director for the Blood for Britain project where he supervised the successful collection of 14 500 vital pints of plasma for the British.² He was also appointed the director of the first American Red Cross blood bank. This tenure was short lived, however, as he fought the authorities to stop excluding the blood of African-Americans from plasma supply networks. He resigned in 1942 after discovering that, although the blood of African-Americans would be accepted, it would be stored separately from that of white people. Dr Drew returned to Freedman’s Hospital and Howard University where he served as a professor of medicine and surgery. In addition, he taught medical students and surgical residents and worked to provide better health care and more opportunities for people from ethnic minorities. He died in a car crash in 1950, aged 46.¹

The astronaut

With the conclusion of the world wars another battle emerged, this time between the Soviets and the United States. The space race spurred on by the cold war pressured both superpowers into sending human beings into space. This led to an exploration of the impact of space travel on aspects of health.

Mae Jemison (1956-present), a US doctor and a former NASA astronaut, became the first black woman to travel into space when she went into orbit aboard the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992.³ From an early age, Dr Jemison had developed interests in archaeology, anthropology, and astronomy, which she pursued throughout her childhood.³ At the age of 16 she enrolled at Stanford University and graduated in 1977 with degrees in chemical engineering and Afro-American studies.

In 1981, she obtained her medical degree from Cornell University, New York.⁴ While at medical school she travelled to Kenya, Cuba, and Thailand to provide primary medical care to the people living there. After graduation, she worked as a general practitioner and served in the Peace Corps from 1983 to 1985, working in West Africa.⁴ She returned to the United States in 1985 and began private practice as a general practitioner. She started taking graduate engineering courses, and it was during this period that she applied to join NASA. Her first application was turned down, but she was eventually successful in 1987 and became one of the 15 candidates selected from 2000 applicants.³ Dr Jemison flew her only space mission, aboard the Endeavour, from 12 to 20 September 1992 and worked as a co-investigator on a study into why bones become weaker during space flight. In completing her first space flight, Dr Jemison spent 190 hours, 30 minutes, and 23 seconds in space.³ In 1993, she resigned from NASA and founded the Jemison Group Inc, which researches, markets, and develops science and technology for daily life. Currently, Dr Jemison is a professor at Cornell University and continues strongly to support science education and to get students from ethnic minorities to become interested in science.

The neurosurgeon

As scientific inquiry pushed to the boundaries of outer space, other facets of medical research have had their boundaries reset—particularly the discipline of neuroscience.

Ben Carson became the director of paediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, USA when he was 33 years old.⁵ In 2008 he was awarded the Presidential Award of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour. Dr Carson grew up in a poor area of Detroit, Michigan, during which he endured the divorce of his parents when he was 8.⁶ Ben and his brother fell far behind in school, and in fifth grade he was at the bottom of his class. His classmates called him “dummy” and he developed a violent and uncontrollable temper. Despite their poor performance, the boys’ mother, Mrs Carson, saw education as a means by which they could escape poverty. As a result she strictly regulated their time in front of the television, arranged frequent trips to the library, and asked them to submit two book reports at the end of each week.

Unknown to Dr Carson at the time, his mother made check marks on the reports even though she could barely read herself. This scheme reaped its rewards as within a year Carson was top of his class. He graduated from high school with several honours and went on to receive a bachelors degree in psychology from Yale University followed by his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1977.⁶ It was here that his interest shifted from psychology to neurosurgery, and his excellent hand-eye coordination and three dimensional reasoning skills enabled him to become a superior surgeon.

Dr Carson made history in 1987 with an operation to separate conjoined twins who were joined at the back of the head. Previous operations to separate twins had always failed, resulting in the death of one or both infants. Dr Carson agreed to carry out this operation, which lasted 22 hours, required a team of 70 surgical staff, and resulted in both twins surviving independently.⁵ Carson’s other successes include performing a hemispherectomy on a 4 year old girl who was having 120 seizures a day; removing an apparently inoperable brainstem tumour from a 4 year old boy who is now alive and attending college with the hopes of becoming a minister; and a separation of 11 month old Zambian boys who were joined at the head but were facing different directions in an operation that lasted 28 hours and lacked all the high tech equipment available in the developed world.⁶ He also participated in the attempted separation of the much publicised Iranian conjoined twins Ladah and Laleh, which was unsuccessful.⁷

Outside the medical world, Ben Carson is a prominent public speaker who devotes much time to meeting and encouraging aspiring scientists. He has also set up various scholarships for young people from all backgrounds with exceptional academic and extracurricular achievements. He has received more than 40 honorary doctorate degrees and is the author of three bestselling novels—Gifted Hands, The Big Picture, and Think Big.⁵

Role models

These great black doctors have all made outstanding contributions to medicine, having overcome the struggle for academic and professional distinction. Many other black health professionals have also made considerable contributions to the world of medicine. As Charles Drew once said, “Excellence and performance will transcend the barrier of racial discrimination and segregation.”⁸

Competing interests: None declared.

Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.

Akshay Shah fifth year medical student
mzyyas2@nottingham.ac.uk
Rakhee Shah fourth year medical student Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Nottingham Medical School, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH
Student BMJ 2009;17:48-49 | February

1. Charles Drew Enrichment Laboratory, Michigan State University. About Charles Drew. 2004. http://drewlab.msu.edu/charlesdrew.html
2. Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science. Charles Richard Drew MD. 2007. www.cdrewu.edu/_022/_html/about_us/charles_drew.htm
3. Leary WE. Woman in the news: a determined breaker of boundaries. New York Times 2007 Sep 13.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DB173FF930A2575AC0A964958260.
4. Greene N. Dr Mae C Jemison. Not limited by the imagination of others. 2008. http://space.about.com/cs/formerastronauts/a/jemisonbio.htm
5. CNN.com. America’s best. Science and medicine. Brain surgeon beats the odds of poverty. 2001. http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/americasbest/science.medicine/pro.bcarson.html
6. Academy of Achievement. Benjamin S Carson. 2008. www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/car1bio-1
7. BBC News. Surgeon’s sorrow at death of twins. 2003 Jul 8. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3055016.stm
8. Massaquoi H. 50 years of blacks in medicine. Ebony 2005 Jul 1. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-17128540.html.

      

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