(bright uplifting music)

- I grew up in
Clarksdale, Mississippi,

which is a small town in
the Mississippi Delta.

Healthcare was very segregated.

- And I grew up in an
inner city neighborhood.

Then the neighborhood
was your village,

and in that village there were
people you could model after.

I was very lucky my
dad was a dentist.

Something my father
told me, he would say

never say never, never say
should have or could have.

If you want to pursue
something, do it.

- I wanted to become a physician

because of two
serious life events

I had as a child.

We had one Black physician
who took care of me

during both of my episodes.

Following that, I decided I'd
like to become a physician

and be able to
hopefully save lives.

So I started medical
school in 1971.

There were 19 women.

There were four
African-American students,

and one Native American student.

- When I was younger and
people would walk in the room,

and they would go
wow, you're my doctor?

It'd be that shock.

- There were four percent
African-American students

in my medical school class.

There are approximately four
percent African-American

students in the incoming class

at the University of Minnesota.

- There are actually more
African-American men,

specifically, in medical
school during the 70s

than the late 80s and
even going into the 2000s.

So you actually saw a
decline in the number

of Black medical students.

- Progress has been very slow.

We were rounding one day on
a Native American patient

who had just been diagnosed
with a severe kidney disease.

And one of the senior
physicians said

I think this is a lost
cause because I don't expect

this patient to take the
medication that we prescribe.

And I spoke up and said
the senior attending

had just prejudged this patient.

We all deserve care, and
a chance to be successful

with our course of treatment.

- The greatest
medicine in the world,

the greatest research
in the world,

doesn't always
deliver the best care.

And that's what we
need to do better.

- I would believe that
the needle was changing

when I can actually see
more People of Color

in all aspects of healthcare.

- Right now, I
think in this space,

we're so busy talking,
we're not looking

for those actual items.

And maybe because of my
aging, I'm getting impatient.

There's a bigger picture.

And the bigger picture is
how we influence society.

How we change policy.

And that is something
that's just as important.

- So there's a lot
of work to be done,

and we need more People of
Color entering the field,

because that's how we
bring about change.