what I'm doing about Black doctors being pushed out of medicine

I’ve written about my reasons for leaving UCSF. And while it was painful to feel unsupported, isolated, undervalued, and gaslighted—including by Black leadership within the institution—I was already a published author, recipient of multiple coveted grants and fellowships, and double board-certified in nephrology and internal medicine. I’ve since learned that my story pales in comparison to so many other young Black physicians who are being disproportionately pushed out of medicine at a time in their career when they have no license to practice independently but do have $240,000 of debt on average after completing medical school. Only 5% of physicians in training in the US are Black, but account for 20% of program dismissals. And this doesn’t even count those who are convinced to resign to avoid the damaging mark of dismissal on their record.

what to eat when facing kidney disease

“My sister won’t let me have anything I want to eat,” said Mr. G during his primary care clinic visit. In his late fifties, Mr. G had suffered a stroke that had taken a toll on his memory. His sister had stepped in to help.

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like burritos.”

“Why not?”

“Because of my kidney failure.”

I did a little what you talkin’ ‘bout Willis pout, as I didn’t remember him as having kidney failure.

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how to get on the kidney transplant wait list

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Mr. Garcia was one of the lucky ones.

Not in the born-in-poverty or kidney-failure-by-30 sense. But lucky in the sense that by the time his kidneys failed completely, he was in California where Medicaid pays for undocumented folks get the same dialysis as the US-born and not in one of the 38 states that wait until undocumented people show up to their ERs damn near dead before they will give them a dialysis treatment or three before they send them back out to start the process again five or six days later—even though it is far more expensive than standard care. Because racism.