what does that mean for the field as a whole? i think that s a critical issue in the context of a pandemic that disproportionately hit communities of color. and i am so glad you raised that. i remember in the early weeks of the pandemic in new york last spring there was a report from the city that showed that black new york city residents were dying at twice the rate of white new york city residents. so were hispanic city residents. there was also an overrepresentation of hospitalizations and case rates in those communities. and i think that sharpens the call to boost representation and diversity in the field of medicine. right now just around 5% of american doctors are black, 5.8% of hispanic, and we have access to more an more research that shows that patients have better health outcomes when they are seen by doctors who look like them. in some cases they are more like to to agree to preventative health measures like diabetes screens. when we talk about diversity in the field, it s
patients have better health outcomes when they re seen by doctors who look like them. there are they re in some cases more agreeable to health measures likes cholesterol tests and diabetes screenings. it s not a soft, nice-to-have issue. the pandemic that disproportionately harmed communities of color should sharpen the calls to diversify the field and to continue opening the pipeline to more and more doctors of color. especially because you can study this question of inequity as an academic question, i have to imagine for you being out there on the front lines at the height of this pandemic, it came into sharp focus in a real and practical way. it truly did. i m a proud hispanic-lebanese woman, so for me it hit home hard seeing people who looked like my family members getting
much time with a patient that you would put yourself at risk for getting sick. so i think it s actually going to change a lot of the world of medicine, let alone my approach as well. emma, the faces of medical care are changing. that is a truth that you capture in your book. what does that mean for the field as a whole? i think that s a critical issue in the context of a pandemic that disproportionately hit communities of color. and i m so glad you raised that. i remember in the early weeks of the pandemic in new york, last spring there was a report from the city that showed black new york city residents were dying at twice the rate of white new york city residents. and so were hispanic city residents. there was also an overrepresentation of hospitalizations and case rates in those communities. and i think that sharpens the call to boost diversity in medicine. 5% of american doctors are black. 5.8% are hispanic. we have access to more and more research that shows that