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.
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring an Audio Editor
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring an Audio Editor to join our award-winning team covering important regional stories across Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
Judge orders new Alabama Senate map after ruling found racial gerrymandering
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, issued the ruling Monday putting a new court-selected map in place for the 2026 and 2030 elections.
Construction on Meta’s largest data center brings 600% crash spike, chaos to rural Louisiana
An investigation from the Gulf States Newsroom found that trucks contracted to work at the Meta facility are causing delays and dangerous roads in Holly Ridge.
Bessemer City Council approves rezoning for a massive data center, dividing a community
After the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of agricultural land for the “hyperscale” server farm, a dissenting council member said city officials who signed non-disclosure agreements weren’t being transparent with citizens.
Alabama Public Television meeting draws protesters in Birmingham over discussion of disaffiliating from PBS
Some members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which oversees APT, said disaffiliation is needed because the network has to cut costs after the Trump administration eliminated all funding for public media this summer.
Gov. Kay Ivey urges delay on PBS decision by public TV board
The Republican governor sent a letter to the Alabama Educational Television Commission ahead of a Nov. 18 meeting in which commissioners were expected to discuss disaffiliation.
