Persistent falsehoods, like “Black people’s skin is thicker than white people’s,” are why more African Americans are needed in the medical field, state Sen. Natalie Murdock told students gathered at the Inspiring Futures Summit at N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University.
Sen. Natalie Murdock, who represents Durham and Chatham Counties, was keynote speaker at the Inspiring Futures event. “Physicians and OB-GYNs will tell you that it was only a few years ago that some of these things were removed from textbooks,” she said, encouraging the student attendees to consider health care careers.
“Physicians and OB-GYNs will tell you that it was only a few years ago that some of these things were removed from textbooks,” said Murdock, who represents Durham and Chatham counties. “They did believe, in fact, that black skin was thicker and that black women could … tolerate more pain. They actually had to learn these racist tropes to pass their test to become physicians.”
Murdock was the keynote speaker at the event, which drew undergraduate students from 10 universities. More than 100 students, educators and vendors participated in the Feb. 27-28 event at the University Farm Pavilion.
The two-day summit included sessions on exploring careers in health care and health care research, self-care strategies, community engagement and creating professional networks. The event was sponsored by the Community Engagement Core of the P3 EQUATE Network and by the Health Equity Research Network on Disparities in Maternal-Infant Health Outomes, the American Heart Association (AHA). It was led by N.C. A&T and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The collaboration is funded by a $2.3 million grant from the AHA.
Janiya Williams, program director and clinical instructor in the Pathway 2 Human Lactation Training program in A&T’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, said she hopes the students were inspired to pursue careers in the health care field.
“These students will help shape the future of health care,” said Williams, who helped organize the event.
Amiyah Witherspoon, an A&T senior studying child development and family studies, said she is considering entering the public health field. “This event particularly allowed me opportunities to meet with health professionals and … an understanding of what I need to do for my next steps,” she said.
The summit “motivated me to do more research for underserved populations and understand how they are impacted so that we can best serve them,” she said.
Amari Johnson, a Mississippi Valley State University junior with a double-major in biology and chemistry, said it was a special event for her.
“We're not granted many opportunities like these — coming from the Mississippi Delta — so I took my first jump at it as soon as they asked me (if I wanted to go),” Johnson said. “I’m glad I came because I met new people, I made new connections, I learned more about maternal health, and I gained a great interest in the career field.”
Fallon Cooper and Andre Griffin, both speech language pathology majors at A&T, said it broadened their outlook on career possibilities.
“This is why we're both here … because we like to explore,” Griffin said.
“Any opportunity that you have, to get to know people and network with your peers and meet like-minded individuals — I would take that opportunity because you just never know,” Cooper said.
