Drive To Attract Minority Doctors

Apr. 6 - KGO (KGO) -- The drive to attract minority students to careers in medicine is starting earlier and earlier. And the effort is more than just to expand the professional ranks. It could be a matter of health, even life or death.

At Dr. Geoffrey Watson's medical clinic in North Oakland, many patients come specifically for the opportunity to see a black doctor.

Dorothea Trimble, Oakland: "Cause I don't think any other ethnic group will understand me as well as a black doctor."

Michael Charles: "If they feel that there's communication that they can talk to the doctor by that communication -- there's a better chance for the physician to have an ability to heal the patient."

Dr. Michael Charles, an orthopedic surgeon and chairman of the Physician's Medical Foundation agrees. One of his missions is to get more black students into medical school, and persuade more black doctors to practice in the Bay Area.

Dr. Michael Charles: "Recognizing the fact that there is a dwindling supply of minority physicians across the country, as well as the Bay Area."

There are also fewer black students in the pipeline to become doctors in California. Of the 2,500 medical students from around the country attending the Student National Medical Association Convention in San Francisco, many would not even consider trying to attend medical school in California.

Dr. H. Geoffrey Watson-Oakland: "We got Proposition 209 which we've lost Affirmative Action."

Dr. Renee Navarro has looked into the issue. She's an Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at UCSF Medical School, and a professor of anesthesiology.

Dr. Renee Navarro, UCSF Medical School: "We found that students felt that because of the proposition they weren't even going to apply to any California school and UCSF was among them."

Chris Jones did get into UCSF and works to recruit other black students. For him it's a health issue.

Chris Jones: "By training more African American physicians we'll be able to help our communities to have healthier lifestyles, and healthier habits, because we'll be more likely to go back to our communities and share our knowledge with them."

The challenge now is to get even young children to even consider medicine as a career and California as a place to study it.

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