Black Men In White Coats Short Doc Series Ep 6 - Dr. Kevin Thomas, Duke University SOM

my name is Kevin Thomas I am a cardiac clinical electrophysiologists that delivers care to arrhythmia patients I'm also the associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center I wasn't the person who always said you know what I want to be a doctor I didn't have that exposure growing up I didn't know anybody who's a doctor I grew up in Prince George's County Maryland my parents divorced when I was six I remember times coming home where there wasn't much to eat I remember coming home to fiction notices on our apartment my mom she gave everything that she had and could have to my sister and I to try to give us a chance to have a better life when I turned 16 I began working for my dad during the summers my dad taught me how to drive dump trucks seems like I'm working hard and doing these things so that you don't have to do these later I think that was my first realization that my academic success would be a way for me to achieve important things in life and to perhaps end up in a better situation I was at Emory University I went there to college I began taking early biology courses and I remember I kind of looked around to see what other people were doing that were taking the same kind of classes that I was and those individuals were largely pre-med then I said yeah that sounds great I could be a doctor that's really where it all started then came to University of North Carolina School of Medicine and then ultimately came to Duke to do my residency internal medicine when I was a resident here in 2001 I lost my mom unexpectedly that was a very difficult time in my life in a lot of ways it made me work harder I never forget where I came from and the struggles that we had I'll always reflect upon those it makes me even more grateful and thankful of the things I have been able to achieve a few more things with you and get you ready to go home okay I hope I can be an inspiration for people to say that guy came from the same humble beginnings that I'm or that I came from there are huge opportunities for you to be whatever you want to be but it's gonna require some hard work but keep true to your dream in your own heart however you define success and it's different for everyone bringing in different people who have different life experiences is really important and ultimately will make the environment better these new ideas will be channeled into new ways to take care of patients three to five percent of cardiologists are black so when I look around in my own environment there's not a lot of diversity even now I don't see Kevin Thomas a cardiologist they see Kevin Thomas - black cardiologists that's the reality of the society that we live in I know that how I perform and how I succeed will reflect about who has opportunities coming behind me our research focuses on healthcare disparities and health equity that everybody has opportunity to receive really high-quality health care that is my single most important goal as a physician scientist and as a researcher my mom had a license plate that said doctor's mom the first thing my mom would tell anybody stranger friends my son's a doctor every time I went in a ward I'm recognized with just day-to-day you know I think about my mom and how proud she would be and so that's very very special to me even though I'm incredibly fulfilled right now and I love what I do I want to continue to push myself to get to the next level I'm Kevin Thomas and I'm a black man in a white coat you

Channel: DiverseMedicine

Views: 8,229

Keywords: Black Men in White Coats, BMWC, Kevin Thomas, cardiology, Medical school, electrophysiology, DiverseMedicine, MCAT, black, minority, underserved, diversity, multicultural, Duke

Id: zHkGy6PPZrw

Length: 4min 36sec (276 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 20 2016