Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
Importance of diversity in medical education and the healthcare workforce
0:51:06
·
3 min
Dr. Green emphasizes the critical role of diversity in medical education and the healthcare workforce, highlighting its benefits and the progress made at CUNY School of Medicine.
- Representation matters in leadership positions, with Dr. Green being one of few African American women deans in medical schools
- The school empowers students by providing them with personalized white coats, symbolizing their professional identity
- A diverse workforce helps students learn what they should and should not have to put up with in terms of discrimination
- The National Academy of Sciences has documented the value of diversity in healthcare workforce and scientific research
Carmen Renée Green
0:51:06
You bet.
0:51:08
You bet.
0:51:09
So, institutional sexism, racism is the thing in which you're talking about.
0:51:16
And, quite frankly when I went to medical school, I was one of a few, right?
0:51:24
Black or brown people.
0:51:25
Women were not in the majority.
0:51:27
Currently, women are in the majority of people who are in medical school.
0:51:31
And certainly in our school, we actually lead the state in having a representation of that.
0:51:36
We also lead the state we actually are a leader in the country as it relates to African American, students.
0:51:46
Medicine has been an area where, there haven't been lots of women, lots of people of color.
0:51:53
We've helped to change that.
0:51:54
One of the challenges for our students, I would say, that they're they've gotten so accustomed to it.
0:52:01
Okay?
0:52:01
I mean, that when they go back out to the world, sometimes there's a bit of a conflict.
0:52:06
Meaning, they're willing to do clerkships because, they've been in a bubble where they've got the person who's sitting next to them, prays on Sunday or another one prays on Saturday, the other one may not pray.
0:52:16
Right?
0:52:20
But with that being said, they learn that they need to take care of all people.
0:52:26
They our students also there's lots been written, you know, that they don't know about.
0:52:31
But, by the National Academy of Sciences about the value of having diversity, in the healthcare workforce and in the science.
0:52:40
And that people who have these backgrounds, whether it be women or minorities, putting them together, a national a national level.
0:53:00
But at our level, you know, our students, I don't know if you know this, but I'm a person of color.
0:53:09
You may.
0:53:10
And I am a woman.
0:53:11
I'm just gonna get that out there.
0:53:15
Thank you.
0:53:17
You know, it's a unique place and space.
0:53:21
But you I mean, there aren't that many women, African American women who are deans.
0:53:27
And certainly, I think I'm maybe the only one who's in the northeast.
0:53:32
Maybe maybe in the top part of the United States North part of the United States.
0:53:37
I we believe that representation matters.
0:53:39
And these young people and, you know, just a little thing like wearing a white coat.
0:53:45
And having your name on it, which is they all get one with their name on it to empower them.
0:53:50
Representing who they are and who where they come from.
0:53:53
They're people.
0:53:54
And so, when I came, they didn't have that.
0:54:00
You know, they didn't have the ins who walked around with the white coats.
0:54:03
They now see that.
0:54:04
They also see the power.
0:54:05
They also learn what they should and should not, have to put up with.
0:54:11
And so, I hope that answers your question.
Eric Dinowitz
0:54:13
So I'm I'm sure that your hard work paved the way for a lot of my former students.
Gale A. Brewer
0:54:21
Uh-huh.