Good Black News recently read an inspiring story at cleveland.com about Dr. Carl Allamby, 47, a career auto mechanic who figuratively changed lanes and recently graduated from Northeast Ohio Medical University. Allamby, who grew up in East Cleveland, is currently doing his residency in emergency medicine at Cleveland Clinic Akron General Hospital.
After returning to school to take business classes and falling in love with medicine via a required biology course, Allamby’s chemistry teacher told him about a new program at Cleveland State University called Partnership for Urban Health that sought to recruit and train doctors, especially minority doctors, to practice urban communities. The program offered intense undergraduate classes, help preparing for the Medical College Admissions Test, and then, if successful, a spot at the Northeast Ohio Medical University.
To quote cleveland.com:
“There are so many times throughout the different hospitals where I will walk in and [a black patient] will say, ‘Thank God there’s finally a brother here,’” Allamby said.
“We absolutely need more black doctors, he said, noting mistrust that has a long history, including the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis, where black patients were victimized.
“I think you remove a lot of those barriers when there is a person there who looks like you,” he said.
Research shows that black patients fare better with black doctors. A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research last year found that black men, who have the lowest life expectancy of any American demographic, were more likely to share details with black doctors and to heed their advice. Having a black doctor was more effective in convincing them to get a flu shot than a financial reward.
To read more of Allamby’s impressive story, go to: https://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/2019/07/car-mechanic-shifts-gears-becomes-a-doctor-at-age-47-and-helps-address-shortage-of-black-doctors.html?outputType=amp