October 24, 2015

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Health October 24, 2015

There Were Fewer Black Men In Medical School In 2014 Than In 1978

Jeffrey Okonye (left) and Oviea Akpotaire are fourth-year medical students at the University of Texas Southwestern.

Jeffrey Okonye (left) and Oviea Akpotaire are fourth-year medical students at the University of Texas Southwestern. Lauren Silverman/KERA hide caption

itoggle caption Lauren Silverman/KERA

Oviea Akpotaire and Jeffrey Okonye put in long days working with patients at the veterans’ hospital in south Dallas as fourth-year medical students at the University of Texas Southwestern.

They’re in a class of 237 people and they’re two of only five black men in their class.

“I knew the ones above us, below us,” Okonye says. “We all kind of know each other. It’s comforting to see another person that looks like you.”

While more black men graduated from college over the past few decades, the number of black men applying to medical school has dropped. In 1978, 1,410 black men applied to medical school and 542 ended up enrolling. In 2014, both those numbers were down — 1,337 applied and 515 enrolled.

Those figures come from a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Every other minority group — including Asians and Hispanics — saw growth in applicants. There was also an uptick in applications by black women.

Enrollment statistics for 2015 are just out and they show a modest gain of 8 percent more black men entering medical school over the year before.

“This is a positive sign,” says Marc Nivet, AAMC’s chief diversity officer, “but it does not change the fact that for 35 years the number has been trending poorly.”

“I was really surprised,” says Akpotaire, who is studying internal medicine. “I sent [the study] to my mom and dad immediately. You would think the conditions would be a lot different than they were in 1978.”

Diversity among doctors is important for patient health. People are more likely to follow doctors’ directions on things like medication or exercise if they can identify with them.

Dr. Dale Okorodudu, a third-year pulmonary and critical care fellow at UT Southwestern, says making cultural connections can make a big difference.

“If you can relate to [patients], it’s a lot easier for them to feel at home and comfortable with you,” he says.

Okorodudu wrote a blog post about an experience at Parkland Hospital that stuck with him. He was walking down the hallway on the 10th floor when a black man stopped him:

“It’s good to see you brother!” I had never met this man, but I knew exactly what he was talking about. With a large smile on his face and a look of pride, he extended his arm to give me a handshake. “There aren’t too many of us doing what you do. I’m glad we got some representation in here.”

For years, Okorodudu has been trying to figure out why so few black men go into medicine. His conclusion: the lack of role models.

“If you’re a black male, let’s say you’re growing up in an inner-city neighborhood,” he says. “There’s so many things directly in front of you that you have the option to go into.”

The options range from music and sports to small business and church, Okorodudu says those professions are visible and present in the lives of young African-American boys. “But when you talk about the medical workforce, none of us are directly there in front of them,” he says.

Okorodudu decided to become a doctor when he was 18. A year from now, when he’s done with his fellowship, he’ll be 32.

Med student Jeffrey Okonye points out that for students like him, who embraced math and science, there are much faster ways to “make it.”

“A lot of friends of mine, black males, are engineers,” Okonye says. “They go to school for four years. They have a job, great pay, even had internships in undergrad I was highly jealous of. Whereas my route, four years undergrad, then another four years of school, and then another X amount of training after that.”

So why did he take the longer route?

“It’s hard to describe the feeling you get when you make someone actually feel better,” Okonye says. “When you can see them go from one state to another and recognize that you were a part of literally changing this person’s life.”

A desire to care for others isn’t the only thing that Okonye, Akpotaire and Okorodudu have in common. All three have had doctors or nurses in their families. And all three are the children of immigrants from Nigeria. Okorodudu says that means the group of black men who are applying to medical school now is very different from the group in 1978.

“In 1978, those people we’re looking at, a lot of them were probably black American males” whose families had been in this country for generations, he says. Today’s black medical school students may be more recent immigrants from Nigeria or the Caribbean, he says. “So if we broke it down that way, that factoid is actually even more alarming.”

The AAMC report suggests how to restock the doctor pipeline. Among the ideas: create more mentoring programs, expand financial aid options, and persuade medical schools to put less emphasis on standardized tests scores like the MCATs.

Okorodudu is trying to help with an online service called DiverseMedicine. Users connect with mentors on chat or video.

Sometimes, he says, the key to getting kids interested is simply seeing a black man in a white coat.

This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes NPR, local member stations and Kaiser Health News.

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Sports October 24, 2015

Sports At The Roundtable: A Rocky Week On Court, Diamond And Web

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Jimi Izrael, Kevin Blackistone and Kavitha Davidson join NPR’s Michel Martin for a sports-focused Barbershop. They discuss ESPN’s website The Undefeated, the Louisville basketball scandal and the MLB.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It’s time for our weekly visit to The Barbershop. That’s where a group of interesting folks gets together for a shapeup on what’s in the news. With us this week are Jimi Izrael, blogger and longtime member of The Barbershop. He joins us from WCPN in Cleveland. Hi, Jimi.

JIMI IZRAEL: How you doin’?

MARTIN: I’m good. And another old pro in The Barbershop today, Kevin Blackistone – he’s a panelist on ESPN’s “Around The Horn,” a sports columnist and a journalism professor at the University of Maryland. Good to have you back, professor.

KEVIN BLACKISTONE: Love to have the band back together.

MARTIN: That’s right, getting the squad – and a new voice joining us today – from NPR’s New York Bureau, Kavitha Davidson. She is a sports columnist for Bloomberg View. Make her welcome, gentlemen.

IZRAEL: Welcome…

BLACKISTONE: Hey, what’s up?

IZRAEL: …Have a seat.

MARTIN: That’s what’s up.

KAVITHA DAVIDSON: Hi, thanks guys.

MARTIN: All right, so we’re going to focus on some big sports stories this week, so let’s start off with some news. I’m talking about ESPN’s decision to reboot their website The Undefeated. It was supposed to be an offshoot of espn.com that focused on race in sports. And if you’ve never heard of it, well, it’s probably part of the reason for a major leadership change that was announced this week. Editor-in-chief Jason Whitlock is out. Kevin Merida of The Washington Post is in. And I’m going to start with you, Kevin, because you are an ESPN contributor. You’re also a good friend of Kevin Merida. Is this a big deal? And explain to people who might not be aware of it why this is a big deal, why so many…

BLACKISTONE: Sure.

MARTIN: …People who are involved in sports are talking about it.

BLACKISTONE: Well, it’s a big deal for Kevin because Kevin had just become managing editor at The Washington Post – first black managing editor of The Washington Post I might add – and for him to leave that post to take over this site at ESPN was a big deal for him. And it’s a big get for ESPN because they’ve really gone from having someone in Jason Whitlock who, unfortunately, did not have management in his toolbox and gotten someone who’s managing – who’s managed award-winning staffs at major newspapers, been an outstanding, award-winning journalist in his own right. And I think really when you look at the breadth of Kevin’s work, has really understood the nexus of race and culture and politics in this country and also has written at times about sports within that – within that soup as well.

MARTIN: But Kavitha, can I ask you this – some might argue why do you need that? Why do you need a site like that? I mean, shouldn’t ESPN be covering that anyway? What do you think?

DAVIDSON: Well, sure. I mean, I think that’s – that’s a legitimate question to ask. It was the same question that was asked when espnW launched about women’s sports coverage and covering sports from a woman’s point of view that these should just be things that are in the mainstream. And I think the hope for The Undefeated is that you get a little bit more support from the main site and you don’t kind of have, you know, these stories pushed to the sidelines because the coverage that they’ve done so far has been very minimal but has been excellent. The stories that they’ve put out have not been promoted enough, and, you know, that speaks to the inner turmoil, obviously. But I think that a site like this is also just necessary because, you know, you don’t – within a mainstream organization, you won’t have that kind of singular focus on these issues. And it’s really important to have a targeted voice, to have a coherent vision of where you’re going when you’re covering things like gender and race in sports. And, you know, hopefully the – you know, this new hire shows that they’re doubling down on that and they’re not just kind of relegating it to the sidelines.

MARTIN: Jimi, what do you think?

IZRAEL: Always worry when organizations get a black version of anything. It kind of gives them a reason to marginalize our voices in the regular content. You know, it becomes the black complaint box. It’s, like, well, if something black is happening, go to the black site. Don’t come here expecting that we’ll cover it. Go see what black people are talking about in the place where black people congregate. I’m always – I don’t like when organizations do it. I don’t like it that ESPN is doing it. And I think Kevin – respect – is a really heavy hammer for this particular job. I – his sports chops are present but light. And I also worry when organizations put these kind of heavy hammers in these places that don’t have a lot of experience in a certain – in what it is exactly that they do, that these people become easily controllable because sports isn’t your thing, so we’re going to – although this is probably not going to be Kevin, but I’m just saying – sports isn’t your thing, so we’re going to, like, try and help you out. So I’m a little worried.

BLACKISTONE: Yeah…

MARTIN: Interesting.

BLACKISTONE: Yeah, and that’s a…

MARTIN: Something to keep track of, interesting.

BLACKISTONE: Yeah, exactly, and that’s a legitimate concern. I think Kevin had those concerns when the conversations first came up. But I know that he got a lot of assurances about what it is he will be able to do there, and I’m very confident that he’ll do an admirable job at best, and a great job even better.

MARTIN: Well, it’s something to watch. So…

BLACKISTONE: Right.

MARTIN: …It’s something to watch. So moving on to a different story in the world of sports, allegations that the University of Louisville basketball recruits were brought to parties that included strippers and prostitutes who were hired by team officials. And this is based on reporting by ESPN. And now one of the assistant coaches has resigned, I think a day ago. The Louisville Cardinals are a legendary team. Their famous coach, Rick Pitino, who said he will not resign over this – gosh, jump ball here. Who wants to go first? Kavitha, you want to go first on this? What’s your take on it?

DAVIDSON: I’m really kind of surprised at the shock that everyone’s been expressing about this. Not just because, you know, it’s prostitution and money changed hands and I suppose that that’s really what makes this more salacious, but the sex part of it? This kind of thing has been going on. We’ve know that this is going on in terms of using women and their bodies as prizes for recruits to – in order to entice them. We’ve known about hostess programs where female students are kind of urged to, quote, “do what it takes” at parties and, you know, we’ve had a lot of sexual assault allegations come out of that. So this transactional relationship that we have with recruits, with high school boys, by the way, is something that has existed in the culture of the NCAA for decades. So the fact that people are kind of up in arms about it right now, I’m – you know, I’m glad that people are paying attention to it, but I would like to know where this outrage has been the last few years.

MARTIN: Kevin, you’re a professor, so that’s part of the reason I’m interested in talking to you about this. I – OK, call me stupid, but I don’t understand how that conversation even starts that you – what, do you approach a student – what is it? – and say go make sure this kid – I don’t even…

BLACKISTONE: Well, Kavitha’s actually…

MARTIN: I’m sorry.

BLACKISTONE: …Right. I mean, women as prizes for star athletes has been going on for a very long time. And I’ll also add it’s not going to stop because of this. But this is particularly salacious. And at a time when we’re talking about the trafficking of young girls into prostitution and to have this going on and have the – a mother who is prostituting her own progeny is not something I think we’ve really discussed. And even more, the other thing about this is people have to understand – you know, why is it that Rick Pitino can dig in his heels on this? Why is it that the athletic director is standing in his corner? Why is it that the university president of Louisville is saying nothing to the extent of let’s sit him down until this gets fixed because this is the number one most profitable college basketball team in the country. It brings in anywhere from $24 to $27 million in revenues to the University of Louisville. And if you’ve ever been to Louisville, where they play, the Yum! Center, is this sparkling brand-new facility in the heart of Louisville – not the campus, not the campus – in the heart of the Louisville the city. So that’s why this is a really, really big deal.

MARTIN: Jimi, final thought on that?

IZRAEL: Yeah. You know, I spent some time down there working for the Lexington Herald Leader. And let me just say, they take their basketball way, way, way too serious. They’ve got to get their priorities right.

MARTIN: Well, before we let you all go, we want to end on a lighter note. The Mets are going to the baseball World Series – jumping up and down, wooooo! – sorry, I’m sorry…

BLACKISTONE: All right, all right.

MARTIN: I’m done now. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I am from Brooklyn. I may have mentioned that about 17 times, I don’t know, to each of you individually.

IZRAEL: Represent.

MARTIN: OK…

BLACKISTONE: Congrats.

MARTIN: …Kavitha, I understand that you’re a Yankees fan, so thoughts about this?

DAVIDSON: You know what? I am not from a time when there was a lot of animosity between Mets and Yankees fans, so I have no problem rooting for the Mets to do well. But it’s really great to see my Mets fans have something to cheer about after 15 years of having nothing to cheer about and having their ownership completely let them down, so this is really…

MARTIN: Oh, oh…

IZRAEL: Shots fired…

BLACKISTONE: Shade.

IZRAEL: …Shots fired.

MARTIN: I know, shade…

DAVIDSON: I don’t mean that to be a shot. I mean, you know, most Mets fans will tell you that it’s been very disappointing. And that – you know what? I’m a Knicks fan, so I’m also not a stranger to that feeling. So it’s a really great thing for New York, I think.

MARTIN: Kevin – Jimi, you’re in the land of teams that…

IZRAEL: Cleve…

MARTIN: …Teams that haven’t always won. I’m just trying to be nice. I’m trying to be a little nice about it – thoughts about this?

IZRAEL: Yeah. Well, as you pointed out, I live in Cleveland. And I’m only vaguely aware of this sport you call baseball. However, I do love an underdog. And so I’m on team Mets.

MARTIN: OK.

IZRAEL: Team Mets, baby…

MARTIN: All right, I feel good…

IZRAEL: …All day.

MARTIN: …About it. All right, Kevin?

BLACKISTONE: Well, I can’t support the Mets being a Nats fan. Andt the Mets absolutely destroyed the Nats this year, sweeping them twice…

MARTIN: Could you say that again, just so I could hear it?

BLACKISTONE: No, I cannot.

MARTIN: OK.

BLACKISTONE: You can play it back later on. But congratulations, have your fun now, best of luck.

MARTIN: OK, all right (laughter). I’ll leave it at, and someone else will be escorting you out. Kevin Blackistone is a panelist on ESPN’s “Around The Horn,” a sports columnist, professor of journalism at the University of Maryland. Jimi Izrael is a blogger, a longtime member of The Barbershop, with us from WCPN in Cleveland and Kavitha Davidson, sports columnist for Bloomberg View, with us from New York. Great talking to you all. Thank you so much.

IZRAEL: Yup.

BLACKISTONE: Peace, see you later.

DAVIDSON: Bye.

Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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Business October 24, 2015

Why You Shouldn't Stare Up At The Debt Ceiling And Yawn

Unless Congress raises the debt limit by Nov. 3, the U.S. Treasury may be left with only incoming taxes and fees to cover expenses, which would not be enough to pay all bills.

Unless Congress raises the debt limit by Nov. 3, the U.S. Treasury may be left with only incoming taxes and fees to cover expenses, which would not be enough to pay all bills. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Most likely, Congress will — as it always does — find a last-minute way to dodge a debt-ceiling crisis.

It’s easy to get bored with it all. Scores of times over recent decades, lawmakers have taken the country to the brink of financial catastrophe only to swerve away by voting to allow more debt.

Now here we are again. Treasury says it will run out of money to pay bills — in full and on time — as early as Nov. 3. That means Congress will wait until the last minute, vote — and we can all go back to ignoring this weird debt drama until the next time. Right?

Well, what if this year, the House is too cranky and distracted to pull off another late save? Remember that the Republican-led chamber is in the midst of a leadership change, with a vote for House speaker set for Thursday, Oct. 29 — mighty close to Nov. 3.

And don’t forget that several senators are running for their party’s presidential nomination. They may want to make lengthy debt-related speeches on the Senate floor — a time-consuming process that might push votes past Nov. 3.

So what if, amid these political stresses, Congress actually blows the deadline and the country runs out of money? What does that even mean?

This may help you understand what’s happening:

  • Debt Ceiling: The term used to describe the limit Congress sets on how much money government may borrow. The current cap is $18.113 trillion.
  • Hitting The Ceiling: Unless Congress raises the cap by Nov. 3, Treasury may be left with only incoming taxes and fees to cover expenses, which would not be enough to pay all bills.
  • Fixing The Problem: Congress can raise the ceiling, or suspend it or eliminate it entirely.
  • Why This Is Happening: The White House and Democrats want to simply raise the ceiling, but many Republicans see the deadline as an opportunity to force deeper spending cuts and other reforms.
  • Why It Matters: Having a reputation for always paying its debts allows the U.S. Treasury to borrow at very low interest rates. Investors everywhere count on the United States to be the one safe haven where they can park money and always get paid the principle and interest. It’s not a stretch to say the global financial system is built around U.S. stability.

If the United States were to run out of cash, the injured parties would be too numerous to count. Here’s a short list:

  • Social Security and Medicare recipients: Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Congress the U.S. makes about 80 million payments a month, “including Social Security and veteran benefits, military salaries, Medicare reimbursements and many others. In the absence of congressional action, Treasury would be unable to satisfy all of these obligations.” Not getting a government check could mean going hungry for millions of Americans.
  • Bondholders: If the Treasury were to run out of cash, it may not be able to pay public investors, including foreign governments. That default could trigger bond market chaos that sets off a global financial panic.
  • Stockholders: Trouble in the bond market would spill over to stocks. Share prices took a huge hit in August 2011, when a bruising debt-ceiling battle led to a U.S. credit downgrade.
  • Homebuyers and other borrowers: If Treasury were to default even briefly, the result could be a lower credit rating. A lower rating potentially could mean higher interest rates, and many consumer loans are pegged to Treasury rates.
  • Taxpayers: If Treasury ends up having to pay higher interest rates, then maintaining the huge U.S. debt would become even more expensive for taxpayers.

As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said last month that “if the United States missed a bond payment, it would shake the confidence of the world economy.”

If the House speakership election goes as planned next week, Ryan would be in charge of rallying his troops behind a solution. But his path forward is not clear because Republicans disagree with each other about what to demand in exchange for approving a higher ceiling. They promise action next week.

Democrats sent a letter to Republicans Friday, begging for a “clean” bill to lift the cap. “Raising the debt ceiling will ensure that America pays its bills for expenses already incurred, and does not authorize any new spending,” they wrote.

At a press conference Friday, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Republicans who want to address spending cuts should save their arguments for a separate debate over funding legislation needed to avert a government shutdown on Dec. 11.

“We stand ready to cooperate, to negotiate on the keeping-government-open legislation,” Pelosi said.

While the arguments continue in Washington, on Wall Street, there is no debate. Economists and investors are urging Congress to act. Citi strategist Andrew Hollenhorst summed up the sentiment in his understated note to investors. A failure to solve the problem next week would be “highly imprudent,” he wrote.

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