Damon Tweedy Explained

Damon Scott Tweedy is an American physician who is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Duke University School of Medicine. In 2015 Tweedy published his memoir, Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine.

Early life and education

Tweedy was born into a socially conservative family.^[1] He was an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where he played UMBC Retrievers men's basketball.^[2] Tweedy was a student at the Duke University School of Medicine in the mid-1990s,^[3] and experienced racism as commonplace in society and medicine.^[4] As a medical student, Tweedy was mistaken by a professor for a caretaker.^[5] He has said that he was worried that he was a product of affirmative action. In 2000 he graduated from Duke University.^[6] After graduating in medicine, Tweedy moved to Yale University, where he studied law.

Research and career

Tweedy was appointed associate professor of psychiatry at the Duke University. He has argued that to address racial inequalities in healthcare, America needs more African American doctors.^[7] He attributes the inequity in outcomes to mistrust of African-American people in their majority white doctors, and the mistrust of physicians in their African-American patients. This influences the demographics of patients who take part in clinical studies, which lessens the impact of medical research. He has investigated the history of segregation at Duke University.^[8]

Book

In 2015 Tweedy published his memoir, Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine, which explores race and its interactions with medicine.^{[9] [10]} The book was well received by critics.^[11] The British Medical Journal admired "Tweedy's unflinching honesty and fierce introspection." Black Man in a White Coat was selected as one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books by Time magazine.^[12] It was also recommended reading by Oprah's Book Club^[13] and Entertainment Weekly.

Notes and References

1. News: Lyall. Sarah. 2015-09-13. Review: In 'Black Man in a White Coat,' a Doctor Navigates Bruising Terrain (Published 2015). en-US. The New York Times. 2021-02-16. 0362-4331.
2. Web site: Now the whole country knows the UMBC I love . Tweedy . Damon . March 20, 2018 . washingtonpost.com . February 16, 2021 .
3. Web site: What It's Like to Be a Black Man in Medical School. 2021-02-16. Time.
4. Web site: Damon Tweedy headlines NIEHS Diversity Speaker Series (Environmental Factor, March 2019). 2021-02-16. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. en.
5. Web site: says. Aldona Kasper. 2016-07-12. Damon Tweedy discusses race and stigma in medicine. 2021-02-16. STAT. en-US.
6. Web site: Damon Scott Tweedy, MD Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. 2021-02-16. psychiatry.duke.edu. en. 2021-02-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20210202084330/https://psychiatry.duke.edu/faculty/damon-scott-tweedy-md. dead.
7. Web site: Williams. Joseph P.. 2018-08-31. Why America Needs More Black Doctors. live. U.S. News & World Report. https://web.archive.org/web/20180831193828/https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2018-08-31/why-america-needs-more-black-doctors . 2018-08-31 .
8. Web site: Professors explore Duke Hospital's history of segregation, 'complicated relationship' with Durham community. 2021-02-16. The Chronicle.
9. Web site: by. 2017-11-21. Book Review: Black Man in a White Coat. 2021-02-16. Medical Humanities. en-US.
10. Web site: Black Man in a White Coat Damon Tweedy M.D. Macmillan. 2021-02-16. US Macmillan. en-US.
11. Web site: Flack. John. Review: 'Black Man in a White Coat' by Damon Tweedy. 2021-02-16. chicagotribune.com.
12. Web site: Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2015. 2021-02-16. Time.
13. Web site: Tweedy. Damon. MD. Black Man in a White Coat. 2021-02-16. Oprah.com.