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Diversity in Medicine with Dr. Jasmine Weiss
25 Plays3 years ago
In this special episode of SNMA Presents: The Lounge, student doctor Isabella sits down with Dr. Jasmine Weiss to discuss diversity in medicine and expanding the number of diverse physicians in the workforce. Dr. Jasmine Weiss is a pediatrician and assistant Professor of General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. She is the founder of iDream Enterprise, cofounder of Let’s Diversifi, and the author of the Children’s book entitled “What Will Kami E. Bee.”
To learn more, visit her website https://www.facebook.com/idream2be
Thoughts on our discussions? Questions for our hosts? Email podcast@snma.org for a chance to be featured on the show!
Disclaimer: The opinion and views expressed on our podcast do not reflect the official stance of the Student National Medical Association.
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Transcript
Introduction of Dr. Jasmine Weiss
00:00:19
Speaker
Welcome everyone to SNMA Presents the Lounge. This is a special episode, it's one of our interview episodes, where today we have Dr. Jasmine Weiss in the lounge with us today.
Educational and Professional Journey
00:00:31
Speaker
And so just to introduce her, Dr. Jasmine Weiss is a pediatrician and assistant professor of general pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Along her journey to her medical career, she receives her undergraduate degree in biology, pre-medicine,
00:00:46
Speaker
at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, or also known as FAMU, graduating summa cum laude. She went on to attend Duke University School of Medicine where she obtained her doctorate in medicine while serving as co-president of Student National Medical Association. She later attended Emory School of Medicine for pediatric residency training where she served as chief resident.
00:01:06
Speaker
In addition, Dr. Weiss received her Master's in Health Sciences at Yale Medical School through the National Clinician Scholar Program in June 2021 to pursue workforce diversity research. Dr. Weiss is the founder of iDream Enterprise, co-founder of Let's Diversify, and the author of the children's book entitled, What Will Cami E. Be? She continues to care for pediatric patients and their families in North Carolina while pursuing a career as a physician researcher.
00:01:33
Speaker
Thank you and welcome again, Dr. Weiss to the lounge. Thank you. I appreciate that introduction. No problem.
Inspiration from Personal Experiences
00:01:40
Speaker
Just to start off, we're just going to ask the general question. Can you just talk about your journey to medicine and the spark that led you to becoming a physician? Absolutely. For me, becoming a pediatrician was a lifelong dream. I knew pretty young actually that I wanted to pursue pediatrics and medicine.
00:01:59
Speaker
And it all really stems from my severe asthma as a child and being a preemie baby. So just as a story, I remember on my peds rotation, being in the NICU the first time and thinking, oh wow, this is what my mom used to describe. Like, this is what it was like for me being this tiny in the NICU. And kind of that carried me through. And I just realized very early on that pediatricians always helped me feel better. And that's what I wanted to do.
00:02:26
Speaker
Yeah, that's a beautiful story. Thank you for adding that personal anecdote because I think that's a lot of people who enter medicine is just being inspired early on by medicine. So it's good to know that you also had that similar story.
Impact of SNMA on Career Path
00:02:38
Speaker
And so just given that this is an SNMA owned podcast and SNMA promoted,
00:02:44
Speaker
details and events that we talk about. I just wanted to kind of circle back to your involvement with SNMA as a medical student at Duke. How did your involvement with the SNMA kind of affect your medical experience and how does it continue to impact your career today?
00:02:59
Speaker
Oh, that's a great question. I think SNMA was just a huge part of my journey as a medical student. I think the camaraderie, the support amongst other students with me, my friends now to this day, you know, I still interact and engage with my friends who are now my colleagues from SNMA and being able to, you know, build your leadership experience in different ways, whether it was first chairing the resident or the medical student diversity committee through SNMA and really being
00:03:28
Speaker
playing a part in the recruitment, which kind of has a lot to do with my career when you think about where I've gone. And so, you know, not only just having the opportunity as a med student, but even as a college student, I was a member of MAPS and got to go to the SNMA conferences and really just building that network and getting that guidance from from very early on that continues now.
00:03:52
Speaker
Right. I think you mentioned something so important, which is the guidance aspect of medical school, which as black people in medical school, that's just something that's so unnecessary given that we're so few and far in between in the field.
Challenges of Bias and Importance of Diversity
00:04:05
Speaker
Given that, I want to also know, you had the positive push with SNMA and the support, but what has been some of those challenging chapters you've encountered in your medical training thus far and what continues to keep you motivated?
00:04:19
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great question. I think, you know, as you said, as black as black students, as black residents, as now as a black member of the faculty here, I think you're always encountering bias, microaggressions, racism outright. You're saying how patients are treated. And it's not always that way, but it doesn't take but one instance to feel the weight of that and the heaviness of that for a patient and for yourself. And so I think
00:04:44
Speaker
some of my most challenging times, actually, I'd say stem from as a resident in my class in particular, I was the only black woman. And so even though I was in, you know, a city filled with black people in Atlanta, in my particular class, it just so happened that there wasn't a lot of diversity. And so that really sparked my interest in workforce diversity and inclusion. And how do we make it better? How do we make sure that our patients are
00:05:12
Speaker
How do we make sure our professional faculty and training programs look like the patients we serve? And so, you know, it's a challenge, right? When you are starting as an intern,
00:05:25
Speaker
You need all the support you can get. And to be fair to my residents, they were fantastic. My co-residents were great. It's just the fact that there wasn't anyone that looked like me that I could identify with in my class. And so that's when the faculty stepped in, though. I must give them a lot of credit, a lot of credit to my mentors.
00:05:44
Speaker
Um, where I trained, I feel like they, they recognize it and they immediately, they actually like had a dinner where they invited myself. And there was a Peds neuro resident who was also a black woman. They invited us to the only two in the whole, you know, program just to sit down and talk and say, we see you, we hear you. We didn't even notice, but now we do. And we got to do something about it. So that's that network that really is important as you proceed.
00:06:09
Speaker
And that's amazing. And it's clear that these mentors and these people will push you, like help to propel you to where you are today. I mean, you've received so many honors over the course of your career. You've graduated summa cum laude. You're a new century scholar and Jack's excellence in primary care award and resident of the year, just to name a few of all the accomplishments you had. Which of those are you most proud of and why?
00:06:31
Speaker
I think the and Jake's award, I think that one, it was awarded by my residency program for excellence in primary care. And that just showed to me, it was all about the patients. And I wanted to be there for the patients. Again, Atlanta, Georgia, you can imagine you got people who look just like my grandma, my auntie, my mom, my dad, you know, that's who I'm caring for. And I love everybody care for everybody the same, but it's just, it hits different, right? It's a special connection that you can build.
00:07:00
Speaker
And so to be recognized for excelling in that area was something that was really special to me. Yeah, that's amazing talking about your roots and kind of how getting that award helped to kind of solidify your place in medicine and your passion. I think that's really important.
00:07:15
Speaker
You mentioned earlier on how you got into diversity equity inclusion works and how that's another big mission that you continue to push forward.
Vision and Initiatives with iDream Enterprise
00:07:26
Speaker
Can you actually speak more to one of your platforms, iDream Enterprise? How did that idea come about?
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great question. So iDream is really an online platform that does what we're talking about, inspires students to pursue impactful health careers. And I think we know this obviously with SNMA, the more you can do the younger you can start, the more likely people are to see the opportunities that are available. And so, you know, my mission with the platform is to take what we, you know, know to be true and provide that virtual connection for as many students as possible.
00:07:59
Speaker
You know, I remember growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina. My parents were very supportive of me wanting to be a physician. And I remember fast forwarding to Duke and we had these programs that were available. And I was like, do you guys know my mom and dad would have driven two and a half hours to have me in this program on Saturdays? But it just didn't exist in Charlotte. It didn't exist two and a half hours away. And so that's really where the foundation for our dream comes. And this was pre pandemic that the idea was, you know,
00:08:28
Speaker
constructed and thought of is that we need to reach as many students, whether you're writing close proximity to a medical school or not. We need to come up with a systematic platform that helps to reach everyone. That's where it was really, really founded. That's amazing. Honestly, I can only imagine how much work and effort you had to put towards building that. With that, was there any limitations or frustrations along that specific quest to diversify medicine, especially through this platform?
00:08:57
Speaker
Oh, yeah, there's plenty. They're ongoing. That's not only, you know, the beauty and joy of medicine and especially academics is, you know, I'm a physician researcher, but then I'm an entrepreneur and author of a children's book, right? So it's a constant balance between connecting with schools, balancing the programming that we're doing, trying to get more students engaged.
00:09:21
Speaker
having iDream experts from just a variety of careers, not just physicians. So every health career you can think of has this kind of lack of diversity and inclusion in it. And so really just thinking and being thoughtful about how do you scale a company, I'm writing the thick of it for those things. Right.
00:09:40
Speaker
Right, and you're continuing to push through despite all of those other things that you have to kind of juggle. So katudos to you for that.
Efforts in Diversity and Anti-Bias Training
00:09:50
Speaker
So kind of coming to now your just current career as assistant professor, correct? Having completed your formal training and now serving in that role, what do you think are some of those obstacles that physicians kind of continue to face during their training?
00:10:06
Speaker
being that you've experienced it as well as what do you also see for just the greatest potential for improvement in dealing with that? Oh, these are great questions. I think no matter where you are, one thing I've learned by being at so many different institutions is there's always room for improvement. When it comes to not only just representation, which is a huge part, but patient care,
00:10:27
Speaker
anti-bias training, anti-racism really acted out from a practical perspective, right? We can sit in the lectures, all of us, right? We can go to the DI events, but then it has to translate into equitable care for everybody. And how do we make sure that we're doing that in an interdisciplinary way is something that's important too.
00:10:48
Speaker
because we're getting our training and all of our colleagues are getting training in their various programs. So when it comes together, what does it look like that we're actually working together and treating all the patients with the kindness and respect that they deserve? So I think.
00:11:02
Speaker
We always have room for improvement. I think for me, it's an interesting balance.
Advocacy for Residency Expansion
00:11:09
Speaker
The reason I chose to be a researcher on top of my clinical responsibilities is because I want to help build the evidence. Why is this important? Why is this critical?
00:11:19
Speaker
And I also want to look at the early pipeline, right? So my work a lot of times focuses on pre-medical students and specifically on historically black colleges and the contributions of pre-medical students from HBCUs. And so, you know, there's a lot to dig into there because if we don't work at a younger stage, we'll all still be grasping at straws from a residency program perspective and fellowship program perspective. We'll be fighting over the same
00:11:46
Speaker
phenomenal applicant. So we got to get more phenomenal applicants. You know, and I think literally what you stated is a perfect segue into my next question, because there's so you mentioned kind of just the difficulty of trying to find the best candidates, especially when it comes to black candidates. And like, what are the ways we can kind of recruit earlier on, you're talking about pipeline programs and all of those things.
00:12:10
Speaker
I think even within the process after medical school, which is the match, right? We know how of a difficult slash traumatizing experience it can be for some people who don't get to match. Sometimes it's due to factors beyond people's control, such as if they do couples match or maybe, you know, they didn't get the right score to match to a competitive specialty, or even something as simple as just the fact that there's not enough slots for everybody, right?
00:12:36
Speaker
And so there was actually a Senate bill for a resident physician shortage reduction act of 2021, which was introduced last year, that would allow for an additional 2000 resident physicians per fiscal year starting in 2023. And so to kind of just help combat that resident shortage. So how likely do you think something like that is going to pass in Congress?
00:12:59
Speaker
That's a good question. I'm hopeful, right? We need it. There's been a shortage for a long time. And one of the things I got to do as a resident at Emory was I actually got to go to Capitol Hill in DC and lobby on behalf of increasing residency positions. It was for the state of Georgia. But that really helped me realize how our voices matter.
00:13:20
Speaker
And I mean, our voices matter whether you're a medical student, a resident fellow or on faculty or in a private practice. It was really something I remember walking around the Capitol. We had our white coats on, which was already strange in itself, right? You're here with all of these political
00:13:37
Speaker
you know individuals and you have your white coat on so everybody's like who are these people right walking around but it really taught me the value of our perspective especially when getting these bills passed right we have stories to tell that these legislators need to hear right they need to hear what our experiences are what our patients are feeling
00:13:57
Speaker
what we need. And I think the more we do that, the more likely we are to help at least put our best effort forward to have them pass the bill. So I'm hopeful that they pass it because we need more more trainees. I'm definitely hopeful. I'm with you as well. I think you actually alluded to just the importance of kind of, you know, elevating our voice and making sure that they know all of the barriers that we face. What do you actually think some of those barriers are in act in just increasing the number of residency spots?
00:14:27
Speaker
I think funding, right? I think that's a big limiting step. I know there's different breakdowns and different programs, but hospitals have their portion that they're paying for all the salaries, and then we need the federal funding and state funding to pay for more.
00:14:41
Speaker
I think that's just the first limiting step is needing the finances to accommodate the number of professionals and trainees that we need. The next step is continuing to advocate and talk about it. I think it's not only on us, but we do have to take the responsibility we can take to raise our voices and say why we need more. The work hours, yes, there's been a reduction over time, but there's still a hefty low for
00:15:07
Speaker
for our trainees. And so, you know, it's no fun to be that tired resident. So if we can get some more, some more, get the Calvary to come a little bit more, we'd appreciate it. Right. No, you definitely alluded to this. You just said like, we have to advocate more for ourselves. Any ideas as to other ways we can advocate for ourselves? There's Congress. What about thoughts of like, union people have been talking about any other ideas that you you think would be feasible?
00:15:33
Speaker
I mean, listen, I'm all for organizing and advocacy. I think professional organizations have a big role to play. I think, you know, your state's legislator and raising awareness with your senators is important. Your house reps are important. So it's not as challenging as we think. We just don't know that our voices really matter and we need to continue to organize around that.
00:15:57
Speaker
Right. That's actually a very powerful and true statement that we let miss over our heads. Thank you for making sure to tell that to our listeners.
Mentorship and Support for Aspiring Students
00:16:09
Speaker
Just in general, just general advice, how can we as medical students and doctors early on in our careers continue to make space for others and just expand upon the number of diverse physicians in the workforce, which touches on all of the initiatives and missions you continue to lead?
00:16:24
Speaker
Great question. I think just continuing to first represent ourselves the way we always do. We are resilient, we're kind, we're brave, we're courageous, we're thoughtful, we're intelligent. We really bring a lot to patient care and it's important we keep doing that part.
00:16:40
Speaker
I do think we can all think of a person who may say, hey, I'm interested in medicine. You can grab them by the arm and keep pulling them along. And the way I do that, ironically, in my doctor's visits, you know, when I'm seeing my patients, I ask them, you know, what do you want to be when you grow up? Right. And the conversations sometimes they know exactly what they want to do. And other times nobody's even asked them before. Right. And so
00:17:05
Speaker
From then on, it's pretty much I'm going to call them Dr. Such and Such for the rest of the visit, just to impress in their minds like you can do this too, right? So any opportunity you have as a, as a trainee, as a student to, to share your journey from where you are right now, you can motivate someone.
00:17:23
Speaker
Right. And it really does start from just us and continuing to push through with that motivation. So thank you for leading to that.
Inspiration Behind 'What Will Cami Be?'
00:17:31
Speaker
So I do have, of course, my own personal question. I think it's so amazing that you wrote a children's book. That's like, phenomenal. I, I know I'm gonna write in the future. I just don't know what like, but I want you to kind of talk about that. Like, what led you to writing a children's book? Where'd you get the inspiration from? You know, all of that.
00:17:54
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, so what would Kami be is my first children's book and I'm excited about it. I was just launched recently and I actually wrote the story as a resident. And so that's just another testament, right? Like I remember jotting it down. I still have the notebooks, just, you know, every once in a while jotting down the next, you know, image that will come to mind for Kami, right? And so the inspiration really comes from my childhood and
00:18:21
Speaker
my desire to inspire children, right? That's one of the reasons I'm a pediatrician, right? It's because I get to connect with children and their families and their parents and caregivers. And so I wanted to inspire them to say, you can do what you'd like to do. And there's really no limit to what you can achieve. And, you know, with iDream, we like to say, we want to dream without limits. And that's what I wanted Kami to show the world that you can be a little black girl,
00:18:48
Speaker
that is dreaming of being an astronaut or a doctor or whatever else you want to do. And so that's why I wrote the story.
Connecting with Dr. Weiss for Support
00:18:56
Speaker
And that's beautiful. And so many kids across are just going to be inspired just because they have that as an initial
00:19:01
Speaker
Testament as hey, this is what I can do. It's it's achievable. It's possible and I think that's really important You know doctor wise you've touched on so many things You've brought so much of your perspective and just kind of what led you to where you are today and we're so grateful here on the lounge So just before I let you go, can you kind of let us our listeners know how to best reach you? What are your social media or email or however you like to be connected?
00:19:25
Speaker
Yeah, sure. So you can follow me on Instagram is jasmine dot Weiss eight nine. My company, though, is easy to remember as I dream to be so I dream the number to be, you can follow me on Twitter that way or Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn that way or by my name. So
00:19:45
Speaker
I'm always available by email. If there's any student, please reach out to me. DM me. It doesn't matter. I'll find time to connect with you because I just, again, I know the importance of having support. And even when you may not want to reach out to someone at your own institution, you've got someone right here that's willing and ready to help out if I can.
00:20:05
Speaker
Thank you so much for that. I know everyone on the lounge is grateful as well. So once again, this was Dr. Jasmine Weiss. Thank you so much again for coming on the lounge and thank you to all of our listeners for tuning into this special interview episode. We'll catch you at the next lounge episode.