Black Man in a White Coat

Racism — in both overt and subtle forms — continues to be a divisive, pervasive, and emotional problem in America. This lecture will focus on one aspect of that problem — its existence in our healthcare system. It will be revealed through the eyes and personal experiences of an African-American doctor in North Carolina, including his observations of the relationships between white doctors and black patients, and between black doctors and white patients. He will also compare the availability and quality of medical care provided to black and white patients, offering suggestions for tackling the discrimination problem. Dr. Damon Tweedy, a Duke Medical School graduate, personally learned in school and in the wider medical world that racial prejudice exists in medicine in both overt and subtle ways. He felt it as an African-American medical student and as a practicing physician, and he saw it firsthand in the treatment of white and black patients by black and white doctors, respectively, and by discrimination he experienced even in medical school. He completed his medical internship and psychiatric residency at Duke Hospital and is currently Professor of Psychiatry at Duke and staff psychologist at Durham VA Medical Center. He gained national prominence when he wrote a book, published in 2015, titled Black Man In A White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections On Race And Medicine, asking, "Is being black bad for your health?" The book reached the New York Times Bestseller List and was rated by TIME magazine as among the "Top Ten Non-Fiction Books of 2015." He will sign copies of this book after his lecture.