The Importance Of Black Doctors
Dr. Owen Garrick speaking with Stanford student Javarcia Ivory. The Oakland Health Disparities Project asked if the race of a physician made a difference in patient health outcomes. Oakland Health Disparities Project hide caption
Dr. Owen Garrick speaking with Stanford student Javarcia Ivory. The Oakland Health Disparities Project asked if the race of a physician made a difference in patient health outcomes.
Oakland Health Disparities ProjectThough Black Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population, they represent only 5% of physicians. How does that lack of diversity in the physician workforce impact Black patients' health and well-being?
Dr. Owen Garrick, the CEO and President of Bridge Clinical Research, wanted to know. He set out to investigate — through a clinical study — if the race of the doctor mattered in successfully encouraging Black patients to take advantage of preventative healthcare services, like cholesterol and diabetes screenings.
Today on the show, Short Wave host Maddie Sofia and reporter Emily Kwong talk about the implications of his study, "Does Diversity Matter? Experimental Evidence from Oakland," and the importance of diversity in medicine for improving the health of communities of color.
You can read the study here and listen to a Hidden Brain episode about the research here.
And all this week, Short Wave will be celebrating and recognizing the scientific contributions of Black researchers. Starting tomorrow, we'll be re-airing some of our favorite past episodes featuring Black scientists and their work.
Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Rebecca Ramirez, fact-checked by Brit Hanson and edited by Viet Le.