3. Mentors and Milestones: The Journey to Diversifying Healthcare. With Dr Lynne Holden & Dr. Dexter Frederick

In this insightful episode of Cobb & Company, Dr. Randall Morgan, President and CEO of the W. Montague Cobb Institute, hosts an engaging discussion on the transformative power of mentorship in the medical field. Recorded live at the 2024 NMA Convention and Scientific Assembly in New York, Dr. Morgan is joined by Dr. Lynne Holden and Dr. Dexter Frederick, two distinguished leaders who share their personal journeys and the critical role of mentoring in fostering diversity in healthcare.

Dr. Holden, a Professor of Emergency Medicine and Senior Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, reflects on her 40-year mentorship with Dr. Muriel Petioni and the impact of her nonprofit organization, Mentoring in Medicine. Dr. Frederick, Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Loma Linda University Health School of Medicine, discusses the origins and success of the Brain Expansion Scholastic Training (BEST) program.

The episode delves into the challenges of securing funding, the importance of community-based organizations, and strategies for replicating successful mentorship programs across the nation. Tune in to learn how these leaders are navigating the evolving landscape of healthcare education and working to ensure a diverse and equitable future for the medical profession.

Dr. Lynne Holden is Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY and a practicing Emergency Department Physician Attending at Montefiore Health System on the Moses Campus. Dr. Holden is Senior Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. 

She earned her B.S. in Zoology from Howard University, graduated from Temple University School of Medicine, and completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the start of a long association. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. and WellMet, a female giving circle that supports social justice organizations. 

Dr. Holden is also the co-founder and President Emeritus of Mentoring in Medicine, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring and equipping students to become health care professionals through academic enrichment, leadership development, civic engagement, and mentoring. Through conferences, hip-hop plays, school-based, and virtual programs, Mentoring in Medicine has reached nearly 85,000 students from elementary school through to medical school.  While nearly 1,200 program participants have pursued a variety of biomedical careers, 572 have become doctors.  Dr. Holden is a member of the Board of Directors at the W. Montague Cobb Institute. 

Dr. Dexter Frederick was appointed Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Loma Linda University Health's School of Medicine in California. He is also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the university. 

Dr. Frederick is a board-certified physician in both internal medicine and pediatrics, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a diplomat of the American Board of Pediatrics. He also has a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University's School of International and Labor Relations. 

Dr. Frederick is the Founder and CEO of the Brain Expansions Scholastic Training (BEST) Organization; a community-based initiative whose mission is to identify, inspire, and educate underrepresented youth interested in pursuing health careers. Over the past two decades, the BEST Organization has developed medical pathway programs that provide mentorship, guidance, and support for students of color.  Dr. Frederick is also a board member at the Montague Cobb Institute. 

Excerpts 

“I did not have any physicians in my family, and it was my aunt who introduced me to Dr. Muriel Petioni, and Dr. Petioni was my mentor for over 40 years. Just to be able to see the way that she advocated for her patients and for the community was so important.”

“The BEST program, which stands for Brain Expansion Scholastic Training, is really my journey personally. It started out with the opportunities I got as a teenager with my mom opening some doors for me to allow me to be in the hospital. It's a journey through college where I had to overcome some challenges and setbacks. It's a journey during my gap year, I kind of rebounded and had that confidence come back again. It's a journey through med school where I had to kind of shift as all medical students have had to do, shift how you learn and study.”

“We have to get creative and smart about how to continue these programs, remembering what the climate is like now and what it may be in the future. For us to continue to work, we've got to have private philanthropy funding and also corporate funding that does not really get mixed with governmental political discussions. For example, the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, for every grant that's submitted, they really want to have a dissemination plan and also know how they want you to have a plan for how you're going to reach underrepresented minority students.”

“Institutions, medical schools, for example, are really starting to lean into community-based organizations to help them to fulfill those requirements. And I think that it's important for us to take what we discussed today and to put it in a form that can be shared with the membership of the National Medical Association so that people can and understand what they can do in their own communities.”

Timeline

0:00   Excerpts 

2:30   Introductions

7:30   Dr. Holden describes her experience of being mentored for decades by Dr. Muriel Petioni, known as the "mother of medicine in Harlem," from age 13. 

11:00   Dr. Morgan asks if it is now harder than it was to get access to learning situations such as shadowing. Dr. Holden describes ways that mentoring programs make this possible. 

13:00   Dr. Frederick describes his experience of being a mentor to an aspiring medical student experiencing challenges to completing medical school, and how that support helped towards a positive outcome. 

17:00   Dr. Holden describes challenges and successes in getting Mentorship in Medicine, a non-profit initiative, off the ground, and how finding funding is key.  

22:00   Dr. Frederick describes the start of the BEST program and how it developed into a successful program with national reach, in parallel with his own career development and involvement with workforce diversity. 

27:00   Dr. Holden discusses expansion of Mentoring in Medicine to multiple cities and states, and internationally online. 

30:00   Dr. Frederick discusses sharing best practices and program templates with partner organizations such as hospitals. 

32:00   Dr. Holden discusses restrictive legislation impacting initiatives and how this affects program implementation and funding. 

33:30   Dr. Frederick comments on importance of independent community based organizations funded through private philanthropy during a time when universities are being restricted by state policies. 

35:30   Dr. Morgan introduced information about the Cobb Symposium that will focus on best-in-class mentoring programs and how they will be affected by the new environment in the USA, following the supreme court opinion of 2023 on affirmative action. Dr. Frederick and Dr. Holden discuss. 

39:00   Dr. Holden reiterates the importance of community organizations for reaching medical students with information from federally funded programs. 

41:00   Dr. Morgan discusses the importance of the NMA as a community of advocates able to participate in information dissemination and mentorship. He describes W. Montague Cobb's commitment to education and mentorship to impact communities. 

44:00   Dr. Holden reflects on Dr. Cobb's impact. Dr. Frederick describes the need to allow humanity to be its best self and follow the example of Dr. Cobb. He reflects on Dr. Cobb's career and accomplishments, and his navigation of segregation. 

45:00 Closing remarks. 

 

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