0:00

Are you wondering what it's like to go to an HBCU

0:03

undergrad and become a physician

0:05

? Well , today , on the Be Med

0:07

podcast , I'm delighted to bring

0:09

you the live recorded episode

0:12

of the Be Med podcast directly

0:14

from North Carolina A&T State

0:16

University . We had four

0:18

amazing panelists Dr

0:21

Jessica Young , who is a clinical assistant

0:23

professor of pediatrics and the associate

0:25

program director for the preventive medicine residency

0:28

program at UNC . We were

0:30

also joined by Malik Mitchell

0:32

, a first year medical student at UNC

0:34

School of Medicine , with a passion for addressing

0:37

health disparities . Our next

0:39

panelist was Dr India Fry , who

0:41

is an attending pediatrician at Greensboro Pediatricians

0:44

and she also teaches as an adjunct

0:46

clinical professor with the UNC

0:48

Chapel Hill School of Medicine Medic Cell Program

0:51

. And finally by Dr Brandon

0:53

Keith Mills , an emergency medicine

0:55

physician and partner at Mount Airy

0:57

Emergency Physicians . He also serves

0:59

as the chief of the medical staff at

1:01

Northern Regional Hospital . These

1:04

amazing Aggie alumni

1:06

shared their time with us on the first stop

1:08

of the B-Med Amplified tour and

1:10

shared all their tips and strategies on

1:12

how to become a physician and ways

1:15

to prepare as a pre-med . We

1:17

had such a great time at A&T and they

1:19

were such great hosts . So be

1:22

sure to subscribe to the Black Men

1:24

Connect podcast channel and like

1:26

this video . Now let's

1:28

jump right in to the episode . So

1:47

now that we have such illustrious people up

1:49

here with us at the panel , we're going to get started

1:52

. So we got a lot of great questions

1:54

from the audience when you guys RSVP'd

1:56

, so we're going to ask some of those questions today . So

1:59

I would like to know from each of you

2:01

what helped you to become passionate about medicine and what started you to

2:03

become passionate about medicine

2:05

and what started you along the journey

2:07

. Who

2:10

wants to go first ?

2:12

One of the main things that got me passionate about medicine

2:15

is like seeing the disparities

2:17

in the community that I'm from . I'm from a rural

2:19

community in North Carolina Rayford , north

2:21

Carolina , hogue County . Seeing a lot of

2:23

the disparities in my community , even

2:25

within my family , the lack of

2:28

preventive health education

2:30

, medical mistrust and seeing

2:33

a lot of the social determinants of health , is something

2:35

that really fueled my passion to

2:37

enter the field of medicine and need

2:40

to change that I wanted to see so yeah

2:50

, and I can relate to that too .

2:51

I come from a rural area in eastern North Carolina and , similarly , like I just

2:53

realized that there weren't a lot of people

2:55

in medicine that looked like me , not a lot

2:57

of physicians that looked like me so I think that

2:59

is kind of what ultimately

3:01

drove me to pursue medicine . But I've

3:04

always just even as a young

3:06

kid , as far as I can remember back just

3:08

really loved science and

3:10

problem-solving , like that's just always

3:12

been something I really truly enjoy

3:15

, and I've always loved kids on pediatrician

3:18

now , and so it just made sense to me . As I

3:20

became older and start to think about

3:22

what I really wanted to do , it seems

3:24

to all kind of come together that

3:26

, oh , I should probably pursue medicine

3:28

and maybe think about being a pediatrician . But

3:30

definitely going back to my roots I'm

3:33

again just thinking about the representation

3:35

in medicine and not having a lot of people

3:37

that look like me was really a

3:39

great driving force for me .

3:42

So my passion

3:45

for medicine started at a very young age

3:47

, at five , and I

3:50

think it just started when one of my friend's dad's

3:52

he was a doctor at the time and he came

3:54

during kindergarten and

3:56

he was sitting on the carpet and talking about

3:58

his career and . I always wanted to know

4:00

when he was coming back , and so it does

4:02

kind of put it together of showing you

4:04

how representation matters , and so

4:07

from that point it just continued to grow

4:09

. When I was in middle school , unfortunately

4:11

, I got really sick and was hospitalized

4:13

at Moses Cone and at UNC , full

4:17

circle moment ended up being the place that trained me to

4:19

be a pediatrician , and so during

4:21

that time it allowed me to see what was medicine

4:23

on the other side , and so I

4:25

think , from me being a patient and as

4:27

well as being a doctor , it gives me another perspective

4:29

of what medicine is like

4:32

. And to help you to understand

4:34

, because sometimes we as physicians , you know

4:36

, we do know a whole lot of information , but

4:38

sometimes getting to the place that you understand

4:40

as well as just reading body language , sometimes

4:43

we may not say things right off the bat , it's

4:45

just looking in your eyes and saying like you don't understand

4:47

or you're not about to do that , why you're not about

4:49

to ? And so I think my passion really

4:51

started at a young age . It grew from that point

4:54

and then being in Greensboro

4:56

, allowing the people that just sewed into me

4:58

my faith , is a big , important part of my

5:00

life , and so I just felt like this was my calling

5:02

, and so I knew I was going to get there

5:04

. I wasn't sure how it would happen . It didn't

5:06

go the straight path that I wanted to , but

5:09

at the end of the day I got there and it

5:11

made me who I am today and able to touch

5:13

you all and working together . Why I come

5:15

back to A&T so much right now ? Because

5:17

someone helped me to get to where I am

5:19

, and so are you here today already

5:23

similar to what you've heard from many

5:26

of the other panelists .

5:27

You know I saw medicine from the

5:29

scientific side initially . You know from the

5:31

inquiring mind of a young child

5:34

that you know everything is possible , wanting

5:36

to go out and tackle all the challenges of the world . That's

5:39

initially where my passion started .

5:41

But then it kind of transitioned , similar to India in

5:43

that .

5:43

You know that I saw things from the patient side of things , being

5:46

in the outpatient clinic often whether

5:49

for minor illnesses , ear

5:51

infections , that type of thing it just

5:53

peaked my interest even further , and so

5:55

I was involved in programs as a youth

5:57

that exposed me to medicine . That's why I think exposure

6:00

is key . I think it's so important to , because you don't know what

6:02

you want to do . If you don't know that it's possible , you don't see

6:04

anyone doing it , and so having that exposure

6:06

to say hey , no , this is for you , this is something that

6:08

you can do , it's something you can attain , I think was very important

6:11

. When I got to college I

6:13

went the engineering route , thinking that that

6:15

might be a possibility as well . So , again , exposing

6:17

myself , looking at all the possibilities , different angles

6:19

of things I might want to do , and I did

6:21

a co-op with ExxonMobil , which I was

6:23

very appreciative of . But

6:30

being there it kind of affirmed my passion for medicine , because doing that I didn't feel like

6:32

I was making a change . I didn't feel like I was , you know , I guess , helping

6:34

others essentially . And I think that

6:36

it kind of affirmed my decision when I got back to buckle

6:39

down and to go to medical school

6:41

.

6:41

I love that . Each of you all said something so important

6:44

. You know whether it's your place where

6:46

you grew up , and seeing that wasn't

6:48

that there wasn't enough representation there , or

6:51

even seeing your own family or having your personal

6:53

experiences . I know that resonates with

6:55

me because I was eight years old when I

6:57

decided I wanted to become a pediatrician as

6:59

well , and so mine was , because

7:01

I was a premature baby and I had asthma , right

7:03

, right . So it's not . It's always a good

7:05

thing to think about . How does your personal story

7:07

reflect them , why you do what you want

7:09

to do in life .

7:10

So thank you all for sharing .

7:12

So what made ? You decide on

7:14

a and T , because first I'm gonna say I'm a

7:16

rattler , florida a university

7:19

.

7:22

But what ?

7:23

made you decide on a and T , as you

7:25

decided you were going to pursue medicine .

7:28

So I have a long family history , as most people

7:30

who go to A&T do of

7:33

you know family aunts , uncles

7:35

, parents even that went

7:37

to A&T . Also

7:39

, you know I'm telling you guys something that

7:41

I'm sure you're already aware of that we've got the number

7:43

one engineering school in the country

7:45

as far as I'm concerned , but certainly for black

7:47

students . There's no doubt about it . And

7:50

so I had someone when I was

7:52

here , when I went to a career fair , that said you know

7:54

, you made the best decision you could have ever made . I

7:59

said well , I know that , but why are you telling me that ? And you know , and their response was

8:02

when we come here and we're looking for

8:04

, when we go recruiting period

8:06

and we're looking for an engineer , we come here . We

8:08

don't go to NC State looking

8:11

for a black engineer . We don't go to

8:13

ECU looking for a black engineer , we come

8:15

to A&T . And so if you want to start yourself

8:17

out on the best foot , this is the place to be , and

8:20

so it was a decision that my parents

8:22

helped encourage but

8:27

it's one of the best decisions that I ever could have made in my life .

8:29

So , similar to Brandon , I do have a strong legacy of A&T

8:31

. My grandparents , my uncle , went here

8:33

but and I'm from Greensboro but I didn't

8:35

want that to be the only reason why I

8:38

wanted to go to A&T . I grew

8:40

up in and about backyard A&T's farm

8:42

. I could look over the air . One time the cows did get out

8:44

. But

8:46

during that time I think the key

8:48

moments for me were in high school . I went to Dudley

8:50

James Vincent Dudley senior high school and

8:53

in that time period , you know

8:55

, I was able to do a summer program , the

8:57

summer transportation Institute , and

8:59

I'm not mad at my new transportation , but my sisters

9:01

that did it . I wanted to experience those things and

9:04

at that that time going to an HBCU

9:06

wasn't really the

9:08

creme de la creme , things like that . I

9:10

love A&T , so I would never talk bad about it

9:12

. It was just that's what some people would say . They

9:15

would say , go to these other schools that were out here . And

9:17

so during that time I went to the summer program

9:20

and talked to one of the Aggies . I remember her name was

9:22

Dionne and , as Aggies would do , we're

9:24

going to tell you we're going to debunk those myths that you

9:26

hear . That was out there . And so

9:28

I went to Dudley . I was in early college

9:30

and so in my senior year of high school I

9:32

ended up going to A&T . My

9:34

senior year you can choose any school

9:37

. I said , let me come to A&T . My whole purpose was

9:39

can I see myself here for the next

9:41

four years ? And so during

9:43

that time the professors

9:45

didn't , even I was a high school student

9:47

. I came to their office Dr

9:49

White , dr Kalisha Petty , dr Rory

9:52

, dr Goins , all that

9:54

Sat in this whole auditorium right

9:56

here , and during that time

9:58

they really kind of took me in , answered

10:01

all the questions that I had during that time . So it felt

10:03

like a family , the nurturing environment

10:05

that I needed . And so going

10:07

through that time period of transitioning from high

10:10

school to coming here and then praying

10:12

about it , I felt like this was where I was called to

10:14

be and with that

10:16

it helped me to get to where I was and becoming a

10:18

doctor and on that pathway . And

10:20

so I think with A&T they see something

10:22

in you , even if you don't see it in yourself . When

10:25

I was in the honors program I did a research

10:27

project , didn't do a poster , she's like well , you better

10:29

go ahead because we got your stuff paid for already

10:31

. And

10:38

so , a&t , if y'all see something in you that you don't see in yourself , they push

10:40

you beyond the limits , and then hence why I'm here Brandon here , malik Jessica is here

10:42

today , because we sow into people

10:45

and we bring people with us , and so

10:47

, a&t , as he says , is one of the

10:49

best decisions I ever made . Would I change my decision

10:51

? Never in my life . And so

10:53

I hope that , with you being here today , when

10:56

you become your physicians or whatever period

10:58

of medicine that you go into , you'll reach

11:00

back and bring people with you , and so that's

11:02

why I get right .

11:04

So I didn't really have like family ties

11:06

to North Carolina A&T . I'm

11:09

a first generation so like my parents didn't go

11:11

to college , I have one older brother

11:13

. He went to UNCP . So I didn't really have

11:15

any family members that went to

11:17

A&T . But I came here . My

11:20

parents my dad especially he really wanted me

11:22

to come to HBCU . He's

11:24

from Alabama , he knows all about Tuskegee

11:27

and he's a big African-American like history

11:29

person he pushed . HBCU

11:31

, and so I got invited here for scholars

11:34

day I think that's what it was called I don't know if they still do

11:36

that or not and it just felt

11:38

like the place for me . It felt like family

11:41

oriented . I remember talking

11:43

to Dr White and

11:45

it just felt like a family . It felt like a place where

11:47

I could thrive at and that would

11:49

pour into me . And

11:52

I don't know . I wanted a place that

11:54

I could really focus on my education

11:56

. I didn't really have to focus on being

12:00

the only one or being the

12:02

token black boy or anything

12:04

like that . I just wanted to be able to focus on my education

12:06

, focus on me , and

12:09

be in an environment that felt

12:11

supportive , that provided

12:14

opportunities for me . The

12:16

biology department had sent out . I

12:18

know when y'all check out emails , y'all see tons

12:20

of opportunities that the biology

12:22

department sends out and if

12:25

you're really a part of those things you

12:28

can really go far so it

12:30

really felt like family here . That's

12:32

one of the main reasons why I decided to come here . And

12:34

just like everyone else one of the best decisions I've

12:37

ever made HBCUs

12:39

all day , aggie pride all day

12:41

, so yeah yes

12:43

, I guess my story is a little different .

12:46

When I was in high school and I started to think about college

12:48

, I was dead

12:51

set y'all , I'm going to UNC . That's

12:53

just where I wanted to go . I had an aunt that

12:55

went there when I was younger . I remember her

12:58

taking me with her to like some of her

13:00

classes and being able to walk the campus

13:02

, and so I was like Tar Heels all

13:04

day , like that's all I'm entertaining . And

13:06

then , when I was a senior

13:09

, my college

13:11

advisor at my high school presented

13:13

me with this scholarship opportunity at A&T

13:15

. It was the Dowdy Scholars

13:17

Program , I think that's still here and

13:20

so she encouraged me to apply . She said I think you'll

13:22

be a great candidate , I think you'll get it . So I was like

13:24

, okay , whatever , I'll apply . And so

13:26

I applied and I ended up getting it . And

13:28

so then my parents were like you need to go , look

13:30

at this school , because if you have the

13:32

scholarship you need to , you know kind of take it seriously

13:34

. So I was like , okay , whatever . I'll entertain

13:37

it , and so I came here

13:39

to visit . It was , I think , april

13:42

before I came here that fall

13:44

and as soon as I got here . It

13:47

was just a feeling I couldn't describe

13:49

. It was like I just knew

13:51

I belonged here , I knew this is where I needed

13:53

to be , and so

13:55

I completely changed my decision

13:58

. That day I remember texting some of my

14:00

friends on the way home and I was like , yeah

14:02

, I'm going to A&T , like it's done . I'm going to

14:04

A&T because I just knew , when I got

14:07

here , like this feeling of warmth

14:09

, it felt like a family environment , it

14:11

just felt so supportive and I could just

14:13

, like India said , I could just see myself

14:15

here for those four years .

14:17

And so I changed my mind , I mentioned I had

14:19

an aunt that went to UNC .

14:21

I also had an uncle who was her brother , that went

14:23

to A&T , so he was thrilled and

14:25

over the moon because he had actually been trying

14:27

to like all Aggies

14:29

do he had been trying to get me to come here and

14:31

I was , you know , really not entertaining it . But when

14:33

I came here I just knew that

14:35

it was where I needed to be and

14:38

, like everybody else has said , it was literally

14:41

one of the best decisions I could have made for

14:43

myself . And in retrospect

14:45

, like looking back of my time here

14:47

, like thinking about all the amazing

14:49

people I was able to meet and all the things

14:51

I was able to do and still pursue

14:54

my dreams . You know , kind of like what India mentioned , mentioned

14:56

. You kind of hear things about HBCUs or

14:58

people might say certain things and

15:00

that's just not true . Like you can be

15:03

so successful coming

15:05

out of an HBCU and so I'm so

15:07

glad that I made that last minute

15:09

decision to to come to A&T . Add

15:11

your pride .

15:13

I love that . So you know . Each

15:15

of you all talked about the family environment here

15:17

and I think that's such an unspoken

15:21

thing that everyone else doesn't know in the

15:23

world . But we know . And when you think

15:25

about how you transition from your

15:27

undergrad time to medical

15:29

school and beyond , I'd like you to speak

15:31

on how you made the transition

15:33

, and I also want you to take a

15:36

little bit of time to speak on any challenges you

15:38

may have faced during your time at A&T

15:40

and as you pursued medical school

15:42

.

15:44

So I might need to remind me of your other questions , but

15:46

I'll answer your first . Yeah

15:48

, I think for me I really relied on

15:51

my friends , like India

15:53

and I have been very close since I

15:55

came to A&T and when

15:58

I was applying to medical school . I

16:00

remember bothering her all

16:02

the time and just asking her

16:04

hey , what do you think about this ? Should

16:06

I do this ? Can you read my

16:08

personal statement ? Can you give me some

16:10

advice about this ? And she was

16:13

always willing to help me , and

16:15

other people too , who had gone

16:17

before me and kind of walked the path

16:19

that I was trying to walk . I

16:21

was just very gracious with their time and

16:24

ready to mentor me , and I am

16:26

so appreciative of that until this day

16:28

. And so I think it was really leaning

16:30

on others who you know , like you

16:32

said , can really pull you with them along

16:35

the way and really just taking that

16:37

knowledge that they had learned and applying

16:39

it to my journey to hopefully

16:41

better my chances of getting to where

16:43

I needed to be . And of course it was

16:45

, you know , a sacrifice being

16:48

. I remember being an undergrad and

16:50

studying for the MCAT , and I was . I

16:52

was over it . I was so over it because

16:54

I was like I really want to be like with

16:57

my friends and hanging out with my line , sisters , and you know , doing over it , because I was like I really want to be like with my friends and hanging out with my

16:59

line sisters and you know , doing other

17:01

things , like I felt like I was a really good student

17:03

and always serious about my work

17:05

and I just felt like that was one more thing

17:08

that I had to be so serious about and

17:10

carve out this time to be committed to

17:12

. But looking back , you know

17:14

, it was what I needed to do to get

17:16

to where I needed to be . So it wasn't an

17:18

easy walk , but it was

17:20

definitely rewarding , for sure . And

17:23

then I think your other question was about challenges

17:26

.

17:26

Any challenges you faced while you were here .

17:28

Yeah , while

17:30

I was here in relation to like specifically

17:33

going to medical school or in

17:35

life it's okay . I

17:38

guess for me . I just and

17:41

this might be something you might ask about later

17:43

or we might talk about but it was just this feeling

17:45

of can I do it ? And so

17:47

some people refer to that as imposter

17:49

syndrome , and so just really

17:51

wondering , you know , even though

17:53

I feel like this is what God put in

17:55

my heart to do and this is the path that

17:58

I'm supposed to be on , is

18:00

this really what I'm going to be

18:02

able to do ? Will I really be able

18:04

to succeed ? I was very worried

18:06

, I was very scared and

18:09

leaving such a supportive family

18:11

environment at A&T and going to

18:13

a very different environment . I

18:16

was just very worried of what that would

18:18

look like Again . Thankfully , I had people that

18:20

were supportive

18:22

of me and helped me along the way , but I think

18:24

just getting in my own way

18:26

sometimes was probably my biggest

18:29

challenge .

18:32

So for me , one of the biggest challenges

18:35

when I was at A&T was the MCAT . So

18:38

I took the MCAT twice and

18:40

the first time I took it I didn't do as good as I

18:42

wanted to do . I was really down about that . Honestly

18:45

. I was like similar

18:47

to not being young , I was kind of like in this

18:49

phase of like imposter syndrome , like

18:51

questioning if I could become a doctor

18:53

, like if I was smart enough , like all

18:56

this stuff . But then I was like , okay , this

18:58

is just one test . This one day that

19:00

I took this test like doesn't

19:02

define how like smart . I am or like

19:04

my capability and so . I was like , okay

19:06

, when I retake this test , I'm going

19:08

to switch some things up and

19:12

I'm going to do better . So

19:14

I like studied for

19:16

it again . I

19:19

think about two

19:21

years later , I think , or a year later , a

19:24

year later , I studied for it again while

19:26

I was in grad school . Like the summer , I

19:29

studied like during the school year , studied

19:31

during that whole summer , took it

19:33

, raised my score by kind of a lot , and

19:35

then I reapplied to medical school . And

19:37

so anytime you're feeling like you can't do it or

19:39

it's hard , even if you get a bump

19:41

in the road , don't think you can't do

19:44

it . You're just gonna have to think about how

19:46

you can overcome it or how you can get through it , because

19:49

you can do it . Even if there's a bump

19:51

on your road or like a blemish on

19:53

your application , you can overcome

19:55

that and achieve your dreams of becoming

19:58

a doctor . So for me , like that was one of

20:00

the biggest things , biggest hurdles

20:02

of my transition

20:04

and journey to medical school .

20:09

What was the other ?

20:09

question . That was the thing you asked about me .

20:13

I think my biggest hurdle

20:15

was going against my expectations . I'm

20:18

one that's very much a planner . We're

20:20

going to do X , y and Z whether that's

20:22

with school or life or things like that

20:24

and then you go see summer

20:26

programs . It's like everything's a journey . Everybody

20:28

has their own plan . That's like my own plan

20:30

is my own plan . I remember applying to med school

20:32

and at my time for UNC was

20:35

my med school that I wanted to go into and

20:37

I told Dr White my first time . I said I'm

20:39

just applying to UNC and that's all I'm doing , that's

20:41

okay . And she was like India

20:44

, I think you should apply for more things

20:46

and see what you like and go along that way . And

20:48

so I think it was getting out of my own way

20:50

and saying that you know things

20:53

are going to happen when they're supposed to happen , and

20:55

so my big hurdle was studying for

20:57

the MCAT , so I tried different things

20:59

I think exam crackers . Dr White was

21:01

able to find a scholarship that would help

21:03

me do that I graduated semester early , so

21:06

I was able to take time to study during that . And

21:08

the biggest thing you have to know is to be honest with

21:11

yourself , like I know this stuff , but do you

21:13

know it ? Do you ? You know these things Because

21:15

the only time you've had experience with

21:17

these standardized tests may be SAT

21:20

or ACT , but they may be changing

21:22

that now , who knows . And so now you have the

21:24

MCAT , which has since changed from when

21:26

we took it to now . And so

21:28

being able to have that time , that sacrifice

21:31

, when my friends are hanging out and doing things

21:33

like that , I was taking time to study

21:35

because I was like I have my end goal , I want to get

21:37

there . And then , when it didn't

21:39

go well that first time , I was

21:41

like okay , what do I do next ? I

21:43

don't know what I need to do . And

21:45

so in this time and that gap period

21:48

, I had to make sure it's like what's

21:50

the direction and we may talk about this later

21:52

is where that mentorship really plays a

21:54

big role . And

22:00

so I was able to reach out to one of my mentors and she said you got this amount of

22:02

time to cry and then we're getting back to it and we're going to it . And so she gave

22:04

me a call one day and was like hey , I think I have a job for you

22:06

. And so that's what opened that door for me

22:08

to go to Duke and open that program . And

22:11

because of that , multiple people from that

22:13

program were able to go to medical school or

22:15

go to get their PhD afterwards

22:17

, and so , even though it felt like a big

22:19

hurdle for me , it opened up other

22:21

doors for other people , and so

22:23

I think that's the biggest thing getting out of your own

22:25

way , being honest with yourself . And

22:27

then finally , when I got into ECU

22:30

, it's about a whole story of why my

22:32

heart changed or why I went there . One

22:34

of the things is my . The mission of the school matched my

22:36

mission of why I'm being a doctor but

22:38

being there from a t and I told y'all what

22:40

to do . So little auntie and

22:43

now I'm going to a school in

22:45

the eastern part of the state and I'm

22:47

the only one that looks like that in there and

22:50

I won't say the thoughts I had when I had some

22:52

meetings .

22:52

But um , you can talk after out of

22:54

here , but but the support was not

22:56

where .

22:57

I felt like I had the A&T that

22:59

nurturing environment , and so me

23:02

.

23:02

I got on my way and I got to talk to my mentor

23:05

.

23:05

I remember one time even Dr White was

23:07

one of my toughest days at A&T and

23:10

her and her husband happened to be in the area

23:12

in Greensville , north Carolina , and

23:19

so I came down . They to me , reminded me about my support system . So , brandon , being there , there's

23:21

another guy named Malik who was there , and so I think doing that process of having

23:23

the support system was very helpful

23:25

for me , and so

23:27

A&T just didn't stop when I was

23:30

here it continued on outside

23:32

into medical school and beyond .

23:35

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