Physician Scientist Speaker Series with Vanessa Northington Gamble, MD, PhD
by Megan Tigue (G3)
Neil Chada, MSTP student, Vanessa Northington Gamble, Megan Tigue, MSTP student, Chris Williams, MD, PhD
Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble, George Washington University, gives Discovery Lecture on the history of race and health care.
Photo by: Susan Urmy
On April 18th, the Vanderbilt chapter of the American Physician Scientist Association invited Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble, M.D., Ph.D., to give a Discovery Lecture at VUMC and to have dinner with students at the Physician Scientist Speaker Series. Every spring, the MSTP invites a distinguished physician scientist to meet with students and share their story. Dr. Gamble is a scholar, activist, and internationally recognized expert on the history of race and American medicine, racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care, and bioethics. She is University Professor of Medical Humanities, Professor of Health Policy and Medicine, and Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University and Adjunct Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.
After meeting with a small group of students for lunch and delivering a very impactful lecture about the history of racial inequities in medicine for the broader VUMC community, Dr. Gamble spent her evening with MSTP students. She shared the story of her career and her lived experiences as a Black woman, which she noted are inexorably intertwined. Raised in West Philadelphia in the 1950s, Dr. Gamble has been a pioneer in her career, pushing past boundaries and working to create new curricula to teach her students about race and racism in American medicine. After high school, she joined the inaugural class at Hampshire College, molding her own program of study in medical sociology and human biology. She then earned her MD and PhD in the history and sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania, the only MSTP at the time offering a PhD in the humanities. She completed her family medicine residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. She shared some stories of personal and professional struggles with our community, along with the lessons she learned during this time. She reminded us that it is ok (and encouraged) to ask for help when it is needed and to always remember who we are and that we are good.
She was offered an opportunity to teach at the University of Wisconsin and became the first African American woman appointed, and later tenured, to the faculty of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine where she was Associate Professor of the History of Medicine and Family Medicine. In 1996, she became Founding Director of the University of Wisconsin’s Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in Medicine – one of the first academic centers to address racial and ethnic inequities in health and health care. While at Madison, she also developed the first course in the United States on the history of race and racism in American medicine. When recounting her time in Wisconsin, she told us the importance of finding those who would nurture and champion her during her growth as a professor. She also noted her passion for teaching and how that has shaped her career. She urged us all to follow our passions, to do good work, and to make change through our work.
Throughout her career, Dr. Gamble has worked to promote equity and justice in American medicine and public health. Working as the director of the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, she chaired the committee that led the successful campaign to obtain an apology from President Clinton for the infamous United States Public Health Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. She has also served on numerous national boards and committees, written several books, and shared her work through lectures and talks. Her VUMC Discovery Lecture examined how false theories of innate racial differences and deficits in Black bodies have been incorporated into medical theory and practice and their adverse consequences on the health of African Americans. Walking through various epidemics and historical events, she taught us not only about the long-standing racism prevalent in American medicine but also about the incredible Black physicians and scholars who have fought against these false theories throughout our history.
Dr. Gamble’s passion was evident and contagious. We hope her visit can spur continuing conversation and action concerning race and health equity within the Vanderbilt MSTP community. We were honored to have Dr. Gamble visit and share her time with all of us!
