08/29/2026
This morning I had the honor of supporting the Determined to Be a Doctor Society.
Too often, Black children and young adults are overlooked or left behind, and this is why programs like this are so greatly needed.
It is one thing to tell a young person that they can become a doctor, but it is completely different when they can actually stand in a room and see doctors, dentists, surgeons and other healthcare professionals who look like them. When they see someone who looks like them in that position, it can change the whole trajectory of their life because now they can see that it is possible for them too.
African Americans have contributed so much to medicine. Dr. James McCune Smith became the first African American to earn a medical degree. Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first African American woman in the United States to earn an M.D. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was a pioneering surgeon who founded the first Black-owned and operated hospital in the United States and performed one of the earliest successful heart surgeries.
They opened doors during a time when those doors were never intended to open for us. Even today, Black men and women are still breaking barriers, becoming doctors and surgeons, setting records and making history.
I am truly honored to receive this Award of Appreciation, but the most important part of today was seeing a room full of young people being shown what is possible for their lives.
Representation matters. Exposure matters. When our young people can see it, they can believe that they can become it too.