Duke’s Dr. Damon Tweedy writes book on race, medicine

Duke psychiatrist Dr. Damon Tweedy has published a memoir reflecting on his experiences with racial discrimination in his medical career, prompting national conversations on the issues he raises.

In his book titled “Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine,” Tweedy—a graduate of Duke School of Medicine and current assistant professor of psychiatry—describes his medical education as a black student and his personal observations of some of the discriminatory “facts” that medical institutions uphold. Tweedy’s memoir reads as both an insight into struggles of racism faced by African-Americans pursuing careers in medicine and a commentary on the complicated correlation between race and health risks.

“For me, race was an important part of my experience in medical school and residency training, just as it was for many of the patients that I saw,” said Tweedy, explaining the inspiration behind his book. “But as I read dozens upon dozens of books by physicians, so few talked about race at all, and when they did, it was only mentioned in passing.”

Black Man in a White Coat begins with an anecdote when then first-year Duke medical student Tweedy was shadowing another doctor while they observed a black patient who had suffered from a stroke. The doctor claimed that the patient’s chance of recovery was slim and later highlighted a specific risk factor to be race—more specifically, being black. According to statistical correlations relating the incidence of strokes to race, “being black can be bad for your health,” Tweedy writes in his book.

In his memoir, he also describes the foundations of his interest in science and medicine. The son of working-class parents in Baltimore, Tweedy tested into a magnet program in high school, where many of his friends were interested in becoming doctors. Having friends who wanted to be doctors drew him to the field, Tweedy explained.

“I was also drawn to the idea that science and medicine were objective, unlike so much of society where things like race and social class are important,” Tweedy said. “However, when I got to medical school I learned that things were more subjective than I had realized.”

Far from learning a straightforward science, Tweedy encountered social challenges that he did not expect. During Tweedy’s first year as a doctor, a patient admitted to Tweedy’s team that he didn’t want a “n***** doctor” taking care of him.

“It was hurtful, of course, and I had my own negative feelings about him, but I also learned a lot from the experience,” Tweedy said. “He stayed on our medical team, and improbably, against all odds, we wound up having a good doctor-patient relationship, even a poignant one with his family, as he faced death.”

Despite the outcome of that anecdote, the patient still represents a group of people who refuse to acknowledge black doctors. Tweedy’s account of his experience, however, does not only blame Duke’s School of Medicine, but also calls out broader problems of prejudice found throughout the system of American medical care.

Michelle Tang, a second-year medical student who has taken a class taught by Tweedy, said that the Duke School of Medicine itself seems to be friendly towards students regardless of their racial or ethnic differences.

“The medical school is pretty small,” Tang explained. “Each class is only 100 or so people so it creates a very tight knit community and I feel like everybody is friends with each other.”

Racial tensions may not manifest themselves among the medical student body, but Tang noted that students may have to deal with uncomfortable situations involving patients and colleagues during their careers.

“Patient populations are very diverse and you’re not going to get along with everybody but you have to be flexible. You’re ultimately there to treat the patient,” Tang said, recounting words of advice imparted by Tweedy during one of his classes.