Damon Tweedy Explains Why We Need More Doctors Of Color

Despite the  increasingly diverse U.S. population , the medical profession remains overwhelmingly white. In fact, in 2014, only 5.8 percent of medical school graduates were black.

Psychiatrist Damon Tweedy, who explores the contentious relationship between race and health in his new book Black Man in a White Coat , recounted his own experience as oftentimes the lone black doctor at his practice in an interview with HuffPost Live on Tuesday. 

"The black population is large in comparison to the black physician population, and I would be in settings where I might be the only black doctor," Tweedy told host Zerlina Maxwell. "And then a lot of the white doctors were saying, 'Take care of this patient, this patient needs a black doctor [or] wants a black doctor,' but I'm only one person. So you get this feeling of being overwhelmed."

He also emphasized the importance of being able to work across racial boundaries.

"Doctors who are not black … also have to be able to connect with black patients, because right now we are in a place where there are not enough black doctors for black patients," Tweedy said. "And I think that there's also something valuable to be gained by being able to interact with patients of different races."

Tweedy, who grew up in an all-black working class community, said that his neighbors believed "the only way to get to college was through sports."

Shifting that narrative is the first step to diversifying the medical profession, he said.

"So much of what we see is the options that [black people] have are really limited. They don't see [the possibilities]," Tweedy said. "So I think we need to get people like myself and others to get out there and really engage people and show what's possible for them."

Watch the full HuffPost Live conversation with Damon Tweedy here .

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