Duke University is marking the 50th anniversary of the first black undergraduates with a campus-wide, nine-month commemoration: Celebrating the Past, Charting the Future: Commemorating 50 Years of Black Students at Duke. The Department of Medicine has begun collecting essays and interviews on diversity in medicine from current residents and fellows as a way to celebrate and reflect upon this anniversary. Below you'll find the first essay in the series by Omobonike Oloruntoba, MD.
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Omobonike Oloruntoba, MD[/caption]
“I’m proud of you,” she said to me. This did not come from one of my relatives or loved ones. Instead it was the family member of a critically ill patient in the Medical Intensive Care Unit. Despite the gravity of the patient’s situation, his loved one beamed with pride when I introduced myself as “Dr. Oloruntoba.”
Such intonations have been a recurring theme during my training at Duke University from not only African American patients and families but from those of glaringly different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
The departmental benefit of diversity as it pertains to the internal medicine residency program at Duke University is obvious. Sitting in various resident workrooms, I have witnessed the wondrous beauty that happens when individuals of different races, cultures and religious backgrounds join forces on the wards. From collaborating with a Chinese American resident in not only treating but understanding the complexities of depression as it pertains to the Chinese culture to serving as a liaison for a resident seeking advice on attitudes and beliefs toward life and death when it came to treating a Nigerian patient; the need for diversity in medicine is palpable.
However, as I have navigated residency, I have come to realize that diversity is more than what you learn from colleagues that are from different cultural or ethnic backgrounds.
Beyond its revered halls, diversity in medicine means much more to the increasingly diverse patient population and families who receive their care through the Duke University Health System. It is prudent that as we continue to make strides in increasing diversity at Duke University we never forget the patients and family members who beam with pride at how much things have changed.
We encourage you to participate in this conversation by submitting a quote, memory or essay on diversity. Please contact Anton Zuiker or Elizabeth McCamic for more information.
Omobonike Oloruntoba, MD[/caption]
“I’m proud of you,” she said to me. This did not come from one of my relatives or loved ones. Instead it was the family member of a critically ill patient in the Medical Intensive Care Unit. Despite the gravity of the patient’s situation, his loved one beamed with pride when I introduced myself as “Dr. Oloruntoba.”
Such intonations have been a recurring theme during my training at Duke University from not only African American patients and families but from those of glaringly different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
The departmental benefit of diversity as it pertains to the internal medicine residency program at Duke University is obvious. Sitting in various resident workrooms, I have witnessed the wondrous beauty that happens when individuals of different races, cultures and religious backgrounds join forces on the wards. From collaborating with a Chinese American resident in not only treating but understanding the complexities of depression as it pertains to the Chinese culture to serving as a liaison for a resident seeking advice on attitudes and beliefs toward life and death when it came to treating a Nigerian patient; the need for diversity in medicine is palpable.
However, as I have navigated residency, I have come to realize that diversity is more than what you learn from colleagues that are from different cultural or ethnic backgrounds.
Beyond its revered halls, diversity in medicine means much more to the increasingly diverse patient population and families who receive their care through the Duke University Health System. It is prudent that as we continue to make strides in increasing diversity at Duke University we never forget the patients and family members who beam with pride at how much things have changed.
We encourage you to participate in this conversation by submitting a quote, memory or essay on diversity. Please contact Anton Zuiker or Elizabeth McCamic for more information.