Former Surgeon General Satcher to UAB: Take Risks
Former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher gave a talk at UAB Wednesday about racial and economic disparities in health care and in the opportunities available to minority providers. He spoke to more than 100 medical students and other professionals at the invitation of the Birmingham branch of the Student National Medical Association.
With Black History Month as a backdrop, Satcher pleaded for bold leadership in medicine and explained how his own near-death experience prompted him to take risks over his long career. He said things have improved since blacks couldn’t be admitted to hospitals — let alone be the doctors doing the admitting — but he told up-and-coming doctors that they still need to sacrifice.
“You’ve got to find something that you stand for, that you believe in, and that you’re willing to take risks for,” he said. “I quote Martin Luther King: ‘until a person finds something for which he or she is willing to die, you’re not fit to live.’”
Dan Carsen, WBHM
Members of the Student National Medical Association’s Birmingham branch focus in on David Satcher, whom they invited to speak for Black History Month.
He said that’s true whether you’re treating underserved populations or advocating for better healthcare in the political arena, which affects any nation’s health. He said that’s why he founded the Satcher Health Leadership Institute in 2006.
Satcher has spent his career working for people who aren’t well-served by the health care system. His motivation goes back to 1940’s Anniston, where as a toddler he almost died of whooping cough and pneumonia. But a black doctor came to his parents’ farm.
“I wouldn’t wish on anybody a near-death experience like I had. But I do know whatever happens to you can be the basis for great things in the future. He saved my life, and as a result, I made a commitment to him, but [also] to myself and others.”
Satcher has also worked to destigmatize mental illness and addiction.
Group shot with a role model: members of the Student National Medical Association’s Birmingham branch pose with David Satcher at UAB.
At the Supreme Court, the case of the candidate who sued, even though he won
At issue was a suit by Rep. Michael Bost, R-Ill., challenging an Illinois regulation that allows ballots mailed in by Election Day to be counted for up to 14 days after polls close.
Israel and Hamas agree on the ‘first phase’ of Gaza ceasefire deal
The deal raises the possibility that the war may now be over, ending the bloodiest fighting ever between Israelis and Palestinians.
After Spain’s blackout, critics blamed renewable energy. It’s part of a bigger attack
When millions lost power in Spain and Portugal this spring, some were quick to blame too much solar and wind power. That wasn't the cause, but the misinformation had an impact.
‘Fairyland’ recalls a girl’s life with her poet father in pre-AIDS San Francisco
Alysia Abbott's memoir about growing up in 1970s San Francisco with her gay, single father, has been adapted into a film directed by Andrew Durham and produced by Sofia Coppola.
Los Angeles: Spaghetti Cumbia, a band born from cultural fusion
Photographers and storytellers Karla Gachet and Ivan Kashinsky document cumbia music in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and the United States.
What are your holiday shopping plans? NPR wants to hear from you
Is this the season of cutbacks or splurges? As we prepare to cover holiday shopping and deals, NPR wants to hear from you, whatever your plans may be.
