TYLER, Texas — Only 5% of active physicians are Black, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
"Honestly, that statistic doesn’t scare me, I’m completely going by faith, even if it sounds impossible," said Ke'unna Perkins, a biology major at Wiley College in Marshall. "I’m really leaning towards cardiovascular surgeon."
Several other Black college students in East Texas are hoping to change that statistic, including Moreen Kabuho, a senior biology student at Jarvis Christian University in Hawkins.
"I want to be a researcher and work in the hospital with patients," Kabuho said.
With the UT Tyler School of Medicine's new Pathways to Medicine program, that dream can turn into a reality.
Gisele Armond Abron, associate dean of admissions and assistant professor of medical education at UT Tyler's School of Medicine, called being a part of the Pathways to Medicine a "full-circle moment" and joy as an African-American woman who was raised by both sets of her grandparents.
Forty students from eight local colleges and universities are selected to go down this pathway to medicine, including three area historically Black colleges and universities -- Texas College in Tyler, Jarvis Christian University, and Wiley University.
"To give them the opportunity that some of them may not have, I think this partnership really helps with that," said Dr. Joann Scales, vice president of academic affairs at Wiley College. "We're also getting the awareness out there that our students can do it as well."
The Early Assurance Program provides students with Medical College Admission Test preparation, physician shadowing, professional development and so much more for free.
Kabuho said she's grateful for the opportunity because she did not have money.
"These books, the materials, all that I’m just so grateful," she said. "I am a low-income student and a first-generation student."
Abron said this program is essential to breaking down barriers that often keep students from pursuing a career in health care.
"The initial application to become a participant in this program is simple, there’s no application fee so we didn’t want to make that a barrier," Abron said.
Perkins is also a first-generation student, like Kabuho, and she said she had to deal with imposter syndrome.
"But I had to get over that like what are you doing now to put in the work," Perkins said.
But no matter how many obstacles might have kept them from pursuing a career as a physician, they always remember their purpose.
"I do this for the people that I will meet, that I have met, that I won’t meet," Perkins said.
Ashley Patterson, a Texas College senior biology student, said she aspires to be a doctor, nurse or a physical therapist - or whatever career she can use to help others.
"My aunts had cancer so I really wanted to be able to change or help," Patterson said.
Kabuho wants to go back home to Uganda and open a hospital one day.
"I grew up seeing a lot of sick people. That really got me inspired to be someone who can change someone’s life," Kabuho said.
Esther Chico, a Jarvis Christian University junior biology student, said she wants to help women like her mother.
"My mother had a difficult experience giving birth to my little brother. I got inspired and I wanted to become a gynecologist to help women back home," Chico said.
For Perkins, she wants to be a spokesperson for Black people, specifically Black women, because she said she understands the importance of representation in health care.
"When my mom started to insist on Black doctors that’s when I got the answers I needed, the treatment I needed. So to be that for someone else would be amazing," Perkins said.
And despite the struggles they may face, Perkins calls this program amazing and it has a lot to offer, especially for Black students.
The EAP is creating a pathway toward for a white coat and as Kabuho called it a "dream come true."
Those who attend a participating institution and interested in enrolling in the Pathways program should email sompathways@uttyler.edu to obtain contact information for their institution’s early assurance program designee.