The Congruence in My Quest

From the 10/9/2020 newsletter

Perspective/Opinion

The Congruence in My Quest

By Sherréa Jones, PhD – MCW Milwaukee Medical Student

What made you decide to actively pursue your career?

Traditionally, when this question is posed to the majority of people, their response involves seeing someone congruent to themselves in the profession they are seeking. For many Black individuals in this country, our answer to this question is, overwhelmingly, because we do not.

I grew up in the inner city of Milwaukee, WI. I graduated from a severely underperforming school system and I found myself, as a child, pregnant with my very own child. I was raised by a single Black woman in a family where I was surrounded by other single Black women, none of whom were in a career that aligned to the professional aspirations I was captivated by on Thursday night
television. Sure, every child wants to be a superhero growing up, and eventually those dreams become more realistic. In contrast to some other children, these fictional characters served as my only visual source of hope for a career in medicine.

During my first semester at UW-Madison, I found myself engulfed in feeling ridiculous for wanting to be a physician. Here I was, at a nationally recognized research institution, with 40,000 other students of which only 2% were Black. Five years later, I matriculated as the only Black student within the entire Department of Biological Sciences at Marquette University. I remained the only Black student for the duration of my tenure as a PhD candidate. As you might imagine, my scholastic unpreparedness resulted in grave academic struggles. I felt intimidated, shamed, defeated, embarrassed, and increasingly believed myself inferior in intellect compared to my white peers.  

When I was granted the opportunity to join the class of 2024 at the Medical College of Wisconsin, I decided I was going to own this experience. I made the conscious decision to be transparent about my personal and academic struggles, my feelings of ineptness and, most importantly, my intentionality about using my voice as a vehicle to speak for the disenfranchised. Moreover, I desired to utilize the uniqueness of my physical presence to be there for those seeking racial, socioeconomic and/or gender congruence in their aspirations. Being in the racially distinct faction, as a student, was no longer shocking to me, it was the anticipated norm. What I did find resounding was the glaring lack of visible support for Black students at one of the largest teaching hospitals in the state of Wisconsin. A campus with an ever-expanding and commanding presence directly adjacent to the city of Milwaukee, which is nationally referenced as one of the most segregated cities in the United States, and consistently leads the nation in having the largest race-based disparities in health, wealth, and incarceration rates. 

During my first year of medical school, I was introduced to a parade of PhDs and MDs who were facilitating my education, yet only one of them (Dr. Erica Arrington) looked like me. Prior to starting school, I read about well-established mentorship programs in place at numerous institutions that are targeted to help Black students thrive. There was, however, nothing in place here at MCW. Although I did not see a tangible support network for Black students at MCW - except for a small number of individuals (Dr. Jennifer McIntosh, Jean Mallett, Dr. Cassie Ferguson, Dr. Michael Levas, Dr. Greer Jordan, Dr. Marty Muntz and Dr. Malika Siker), I refused to believe there was no interest in its erection. Similarly, I refused to believe that, a hospital that cares for a largely impoverished and disadvantaged population, where many of its children were born, was a hospital that did not care to support the success of its future Black physicians in training. Furthermore, I refused to believe that, an institution that welcomes over 200 students each year (albeit only 4% are Black) did not have a proactive committee to offer resources and refuge to students who found themselves on academic probation - the frightening place I was in at the conclusion of my first semester at UW-Madison. I refused to believe that absolutely no one, within administration, faculty, or staff had a genuine concern about the mental health and well-being of Black students.

Despite the daunting data and the countless conversations with my Black student colleagues surrounding feelings of isolation, frustration, and powerlessness, I am glad I held on to my skepticism. Through our activism and advocacy, we have been introduced to a village of physicians, administrators, staff, and non-Black students who have tremendous concerns about the deficiency of a culture that ensures the support and success of Black students. Through my student leadership roles, I have discovered a team of individuals that have launched a collective effort on shifting the paradigm at MCW built around anti-racist directives. There is a community at MCW that works tirelessly, while facing insurmountable organizational hurdles, against the structural inequalities that are systemically designed to perpetuate the failure of Black students that choose to enroll at MCW based on the advertised supportive nature of the program.

In discovering this assemblage, I have begun a personal quest to bring awareness to this community. Although this quest feels strikingly reminiscent of the imaginary characters I held on to in an effort to catapult me to a realistic place of actively pursuing my dreams, I unequivocally embrace the intangible ideal that, one day, the members of this community will be unapologetically and unashamedly empowered to speak up for Black students, visibly support Black students, and enforce palpable change for the betterment of the Black student experience at MCW. 

It took over 400 years to structure the system that anticipates my failure. I am well aware that I cannot unravel it in four.

Sherrea Jones, Ph.D. is an M.D. Candidate in the MCW-Milwaukee Class of 2024. She serves as a liaison to the Student Pillar of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education.