In this episode, STFM President Tricia C. Elliott, MD, presents the first of her President's Podcasts, which will be periodically released over the course of the next year. "Being Black in Medicine" features interviews with Byron Jasper, MD, MPH, founder and executive director of the Comprehensive Medical Mentoring Program, and two of his medical student mentees, Taurah Dizadare and Lance Walker.
Information about Comprehensive Medical Mentoring Program, created to matriculate minority students in into medicine, can be found at www.cmmpmed.org. You can find CMMP on social media at:
Guest Bios
Dr. Jasper is a native of Houma, LA and a proud alumnus of Xavier University of
Louisiana. He received his medical degree from Tulane School of Medicine, and his
Master of Public Health from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Dr.
Jasper would go on to complete his residency training at Baton Rouge General Family
Medicine Residency Program and then completed 2 years of fellowship in the
Washington, D.C. area.
During his time in fellowship, Dr. Jasper saw it necessary to create Comprehensive
Medical Mentoring Program (CMMP) because of his realization that there has been
minimal growth in the number of minority physicians despite their important role in
reducing health disparities. Dr. Jasper also realized that mentorship often influences
academic productivity and professional satisfaction. With proper structure it can also
help to promote the pursuit of an occupation in health care for those that may not have
otherwise considered this field. It was from these facts and concepts that the foundation
of CMMP was built.
Taurah Dizadare is a rising 3rd year medical student at St. George's University (SGU) School of Medicine. Prior to attending medical school, she received a Bachelor of Science in Biology at Xavier University of Louisiana in 2012, Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology at LSU Health Sciences Center in 2013 and is a licensed Medical Laboratory Scientist, and received a Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences in 2016. She currently serves as the president of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) for the SGU Chapter, is a volunteer tutor for over 1200 students at SGU and will be sitting for her USMLE Step 1 exam this summer (date TBD).
Lance Walker hails from Chicago, Illinois. He is a 4th year medical student at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, LA. Like Dr. Jasper, Lance is also an alumnus of Xavier University of Louisiana. At Tulane, Lance served as Vice President of the Tulane Chapter of the Student National Medical Association where he helped organize various mentorship projects and community outreach, all with the goal of increasing minority representation in medicine and serving the community. After medical school, Lance plans to do a Family Medicine residency, where he hopes to provide care to underserved communities and continue to promote diversity and inclusion in medicine.
