President-Elect for the National Medical Association, Dr. Yolanda Lawson joined On Point with Juandolyn Stokes to discuss the Supreme Court’s recent ruling against Affirmative Action in college admissions and how that decision will affect medical school and residency acceptance for Black and Brown students.
When asked how she felt after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Dr. Lawson said,” I was so disappointed. We had been on the edge of our seats knowing this could likely be the case. I was so disheartened.”
Dr. Lawson’s disappointment stemmed in part from the data from California’s Proposition 209, which looked at the enrollment of Black and Latino students in 1996 at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and Berkley and saw a 40% decrease in admissions.
Hence, although Justice John Roberts said in his opinion that the Affirmative Action decision would not have an effect, “We know historically it has moved the needle. Historical data shows what will happen,” added Dr. Lawson.
The National Medical Association is hoping some schools will ignore the Supreme Court ruling as they know Deans are trying to prepare schools for the disbanded diversity offices.
“Our mission is to eliminate healthcare disparities,” said Dr. Lawson.
However, that mission will be difficult to accomplish with less than 6% of Black physicians. Plus, the ruling against Affirmative Action will affect Black student’s ability to get into medical school, and residency training programs to get the training needed to obtain a medical license.
According to Dr. Lawson, trust and racial concordance are the norm when Black patients have Black doctors. For example, Black newborn babies are only half as likely to die when they have a Black doctor as opposed to any other.
“People have better outcomes when there is racially concordant care (same race),” said Dr. Lawson.
Dr. Lawson will be installed as the 124th President of the National Medical Association at the 2023 Annual Convention and Scientific Assembly in New Orleans, L.A. on July 29th- August 2nd.