Relevance of the George Cleveland Hall Society

I hope you read my last post about Dr. George Cleveland Hall. He was an awesome individual.

When I was in undergrad as a pre-med researcher I had the opportunity to attend a number of conferences to present research and meet other pre-med students. While at these conferences I to notice that there were not many minorities pursuing careers medicine. After graduating and attending a post-bacc program at Harvard Medical School I did not see many African Amercian physicians in the teaching hospitals there. I began to contemplate why was this so. And as I began to look into this I came across some research that was published in the National Medical Association Journal. During the study Dr. Vijaya Rao and Dr. Glenn Flores identified barriers for African Americans high school students to pursue a career as a physician. These barriers were:

• Financial Challenges
• Time Commitment
• Stress/Difficulty
• Limited Opportunities and Exposure to Medicine
• Lack of Family Support
• Lack of Peer Support
• Perceptions of Physicians
• Lack of Knowledge about Medicine
• Lack of Interest
• Negative Normative Cultural Values and Tradition
• Perceived Racism in the Medical Field and Healthcare Institutions

When I learned of this I was immediately moved to do something to begin breaking down these sociological/psychological barriers. As a result of the aforementioned barriers I decided to start the George Cleveland Hall Society (GCHS). This blog will be the first tool to begin tackling these issues. As a Black American who has recently been accepted to medical school and on my way to becoming a physician scientist, I am very passionate about encouraging other minority to students to pursue careers in medicine. CGHS has come to order! I invite you all to share your encouraging stories, testimonies, hopes, and dreams here in the society. Dr. Hall saw a vision of a diverse healthcare system and the society will help to make sure that comes to fruition.

Introducing Dr. George Cleveland Hall

Introducing Dr. George Cleveland Hall

This is Dr. George Cleveland Hall. I'm sure you all are wondering why have I decided to start this blog and this society in the name of Dr. George Cleveland Hall. Well, to really understand my reasoning for doing this you have to learn about Dr. George Cleveland Hall. Dr. Hall was born February 22, 1864 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He studied at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania and completed his medical training at Bennett College in Chicago, IL.

• I just want to pause right here to reiterate that Dr. Hall has completed his undergraduate training and become a physician (a successful one a that) in the early 1900's as a Black American. Which is amazing!

Dr. Hall continued on to become one of the most noted physicians in Chicago as the Chief Physician at Provident Hospital. In his tenure he started programs that start post-medical training for physicians, more specifically African American/Black American physicians. These doctors endure a great deal of discrimination during this time and were denied acceptance to many programs that were set up to training new physicians. Identifying this problem, Dr. Hall played an instrumental role in training Black American physicians during the early 1900's.

• Pretty cool, huh?

Now that I have given you very brief background of this extraordinary individual we can now grasp the reason why I have created the George Cleveland Hall Society.