The Black medicine group at Ohio State aims to support up and coming and current medical students. Credit: Courtesy of Corey Gatewood
Coming out of high school, Corey Gatewood’s goal was to make it to the NFL. As the top receiver prospect in Massachusetts, Gatewood found a home at Stanford University, where he dreamed of studying biology and attending medical school when not on the football field.
He found, however, that he lacked support in reaching both goals as he faced discouragement from his advisers, who told him he would not get into medical school.
“There wasn’t that kind of, like, encouraging conversation. It was more like, ‘I don’t think you’re going to get into med school; you have a very low probability,’ ” he said. “From that standpoint, I was always kind of fighting an uphill battle because the powers that be kind of made it difficult for me to attend the chemistry classes and do well.”
Now a fourth-year medical student at Ohio State’s College of Medicine, Gatewood established the Black Men in Medicine organization, inspired by the BlackMenInMedicine hashtag that aims to inspire, mentor and motivate future and current African American physicians.
“This fact that less than 3 percent of African American males are in the field of medicine, and then it’s a debate about whether it’s competency, dedication to a craft, all of these things that become side conversations about support explaining why that’s the case,” Gatewood said. “I want to end that noise because it’s not that. Part of it is access to resources and advocates, early exposure and mentorship.”
According to a study by UCLA, in 2018, Black men made up 2.6 percent — and Black people overall 5.4 — of physicians in the U.S.. Citing systemic setbacks such as lack of resources and unequal access to education, the report shows a disparity in the medical field that is detrimental to young African Americans.
To help combat this, the Black Men in Medicine group meets regularly to discuss current medical concerns and provide support for one another through the stress of medical school, Gatewood said. The group also listens to panels made up of Ohio State and national African American physicians and provides tutelage for undergraduates looking to enter the field, he said.
“If you look at medical students, in particular Black males, three or four months, that’s enough to fail exams and be looking on the brink of getting removed from medical school,” Gatewood said. “So, I saw that from some of my peers who didn’t complete medical school and said there’s something we can certainly do here.”
Dr. Leon McDougle, chief officer of diversity for the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State, said groups such as Black Men in Medicine are an integral part in not only creating a support system, but also making these men feel safe and welcomed in the medical field, since the profession is predominately white.
“These groups speak to a need to foster interesting opportunities for Black men in medicine,” he said. “We reach out to undergrads to help bring them with us in this mentoring opportunity, so you’ll find that there’s a confluence of efforts nationally concerning this.”
Gatewood said the group prides itself on not only being a support system for college students, but for children in the community and local schools. Group members have volunteered at schools including East High School in Columbus and Lebron James’ I Promise School in Akron, Ohio, all with the hope of planting seeds in the minds of future doctors and nurses.
“You’re more likely to see it through when you start something earlier, and that’s seen in athletics in my community — people will continually try to get to the NFL, even if they only have one offer, just because they’ve been trying for so long,” Gatewood said. “So I was like, ‘Well, why can’t we do that with medicine?’ and so that was the reason behind why we wanted to start so young.”
McDougle said the pandemic shed light on a lack of diversity in the medical community. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Americans are 2.5 times more at risk for COVID-19 hospitalization and 1.7 times more for death compared to white people.
“COVID-19 revealed the importance of having Black doctors so that both men and women from the Black community are represented in leadership and taking their place in regards to or being in positions to have opportunities to become trusted messengers in the community,” McDougle said.
Despite what past advisers said, Gatewood can almost cross off everything on his list of goals. He’s already reached the NFL after a stint with the Minnesota Vikings in 2012, and he will officially begin residency in May. Leaving a legacy behind him, he said his time at Ohio State has been special.
“I’m most proud of the fact that the medical students that are following me can realize just how significant this problem is — I was able to put it on the horizon and then put in the energy and effort to make sure that this organization, this purpose, this mission takes off,” he said. “I’m proud that I was able to relate to the younger medical students and that they’re willing to devote the energy to make sure it lives on.”
