Black Men in White Coats Chapter Established at UB - ubmd.com

Medical students, from left, Michael Augustin, Shawn Gibson and Kwaku Bonsu are co-founders and co-presidents of the Jacobs School’s Jonathan Daniels Chapter of Black Men successful White Coats.

Published November 7, 2022

A Black Men successful White Coats section has been established astatine the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and is named successful grant of the precocious Jonathan D. Daniels, MD, the school’s erstwhile subordinate manager of admissions who died July 4 successful a occurrence astatine his North Buffalo home.

Black Men successful White Coats is simply a nationalist enactment founded by Dale Okorodudu, MD, that seeks to summation the fig of Black men successful the tract of medicine.

Four Jacobs School medical students are co-founders and co-presidents of the section section — fourth-year pupil Shawn Gibson and second-year students Michael Augustin, Kwaku Bonsu and Nathanial Graves.

Gibson says the thought to commencement a section astatine the Jacobs School is thing helium really discussed with Daniels during the summertime aft his M1 twelvemonth — but with engaged schedules and the emergence of COVID-19, it was not accomplished.

Gibson was backmost location successful New York City studying for the USMLE Step 2 exam this summertime erstwhile helium heard the quality of Daniels’ tragic death.

“It near a batch of america afloat, to suffer a very, precise heavy mentor similar that,” helium says. “It started disconnected arsenic a program to charter it with Dr. Daniels present live and present, but sadly, aft his loss, is erstwhile we said, ‘we request to charter this now.’”

Gibson says the radical asked for support from Daniels’ widow, Janessa E. Givens Daniels, and she gave her blessing to sanction the section successful grant of him — the Jonathan Daniels Chapter of Black Men successful White Coats astatine Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences astatine the University astatine Buffalo.

“Our extremity is to summation the percent of Black antheral physicians,” Bonsu says. “For us, Dr. Daniels was the cleanable relation exemplary of a Black antheral physician. I don’t deliberation I would beryllium successful the Jacobs School if I did not conscionable him.”

The section plans to enactment with section schools to mentor Black students, and its archetypal outreach is with Buffalo PS 39 Martin Luther King Multicultural Institute for grades 3-8 connected High Street.

“We are creating that pipeline for young Black men successful the community,” Bonsu says. “If they are funny successful medicine, that’s great. If not, we inactive are mentoring them and helping them with the things they are funny in, helping them hole to beryllium aboriginal professionals.”

“We privation to commencement with younger, simple and mediate schoolhouse students,” helium adds. “We privation to assistance them with schoolwork, and thatch them the close things truthful they tin beryllium amended aboriginal applicants to aesculapian school. We don‘t privation them to hold until assemblage to larn everything they request to cognize earlier they tin effort to spell to aesculapian school.”

Augustin says the mentoring efforts volition absorption connected students successful 4th done sixth grades astatine first, with imaginable for enlargement to different grades aboriginal on.

“We privation them to beryllium mentally prepared and we archer them ‘if you request assistance with anything, we volition beryllium determination to enactment you oregon springiness you the resources you request to succeed,’ whether that is giving them proposal oregon pointing them successful the close direction,” helium says.

Rev. Kinzer M. Pointer

The aesculapian students became progressive with the metropolis schoolhouse done an instauration facilitated by The Rev. Kinzer M. Pointer, pastor of Liberty Missionary Baptist Church, and an teacher astatine the Jacobs School. Pointer and Fred D. Archer III, MD, objective adjunct prof of pediatrics, are the module advisers for the caller chapter.

“What we cognize is that successful bid to get astatine aesculapian schoolhouse it requires a tremendous magnitude of preparation,” Pointer says. “If that mentation doesn’t commencement until precocious school, you are down the 8 ball.”

Pointer notes that MLK School 39 is conscionable a abbreviated locomotion from the aesculapian school, “and yet those students successful that school, by and large, person ne'er seen a Black physician.”

“We privation to, astatine least, springiness them that acquisition and we privation to marque definite these kids tin statesman to imagination arsenic aboriginal arsenic possible.”

“We chose a schoolhouse adjacent to the aesculapian schoolhouse connected purpose. When we request to travel, we don’t person acold to go,” helium adds. “And successful those instances erstwhile we bring them here, they don’t person acold to go.”

Gibson says the full thought of the charter nine is to impart the connection that “you could beryllium what you see.”

“We each person our ain stories of however we got present to aesculapian school,“ helium says. “I surely did not commencement early. I was 1 of the precocious bloomers. We each privation to springiness that accidental that we didn’t needfully have.”

“The statistic of 2.7 percent is ingrained successful each of america due to the fact that that is the percent of Black antheral physicians successful the country,” says Gibson, who served arsenic a panelist astatine a Black Men successful White Coats forum successful March astatine the Jacobs School building.

Pointer notes erstwhile helium was a child, 40 percent of each the African American physicians went to the 4 HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) aesculapian schools.

“Well, I haven’t been a kid for implicit 50 years and those 4 aesculapian schools are inactive producing 40 percent of each Black physicians,” helium says. “What’s incorrect with that representation is we person not provided the accidental aboriginal capable for Black youngsters to judge they are susceptible of being a doctor.”

Gibson says the section is looking for further Black antheral students to articulation its ranks.

“It could beryllium residents oregon different wellness attraction professionals due to the fact that this doesn’t conscionable commencement oregon halt astatine the aesculapian school.”

Email the section at bmwc.jdbuffalo@gmail.com for further information.