IN THE NEWS Dr. David Satcher: From Alabama Farm to the Surgeon General’s Office BY MARY KORR RIMJ MANAGING EDITOR PROVIDENCE – Prior to delivering the an- then on, I told everyone I was going to nual Dr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Barnes, be doctor like Dr. Jackson. I was as cer- Jr. Lecture in Public Health at Brown tain of that as I have been of anything University on April 18th, former U.S. in my life. Surgeon General David Satcher dis- The leadership of Morehouse College cussed his path to becoming a physician and Benjamin Elijah Mays [president with the Rhode Island Medical Journal, of Morehouse College 1940–1967] also and his views on medicine and health played a major role in my development care today. and getting into medical school. But I NIH Born in March 1941 to Wilmer and was first motivated by that near-death BRIEF BIO Anna Satcher, Dr. Satcher’s journey be- experience. DAVID SATCHER, MD, PhD gan on the family’s rural Alabama farm when he was two years old and gravely Q. What lessons have stayed with Graduated ill with whooping cough. The town you from your boyhood days on Morehouse College in Atlanta (1963) hospital was segregated and did not the farm? Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, admit black children. His father sought A. Our dad taught us to work in the MD, PhD (1970) the help of the only black physician in field and a lot of other lessons about life Positions the vicinity of Anniston, Alabama, who that are still with me. He always said if President, Meharry Medical College came out to the farm to tend the toddler. you’re not careful, the person who beats in Nashville (1982–1993) His prognosis was dire. you out in the morning will beat you out Director of the CDC (1993–1998) in life. I still get up at 5 a.m. to exercise Appointed by President Clinton as Q. Who has inspired you the most before work. 16th U.S. Surgeon General & Asstistant in your life? When it came time for me to go to Secretary for Health in Dept. of Health A. I should start with Dr. Fred Jackson, Morehouse College in Atlanta, I remem- and Human Services (1998-2002) who came out to the farm on his day off ber standing at the bus stop with my President, Morehouse School of Medicine when I was two years old and very sick dad. I was feeling kind of sorry for him. (2004-‘06) with whooping cough and pneumonia. He never finished first grade. As the bus Current He told my parents I wasn’t going to pulled up, he said to me: ‘Son, I want Founder & Director, The Satcher Health live out the week, but he did everything you to promise me something. Where Leadership Institute and Center of he could and showed them how to care you are going you will meet people with Excellence on Health Disparities, for me. When I stopped breathing, my more than you, and you will meet people Morehouse School of Medicine mother breathed for me. with less than you. Promise me you will Poussaint-Satcher-Cosby Chair in Mental I often heard that story from my treat everyone with respect.’ It’s the best Health, Morehouse School of Medicine mother. And the one thing I wanted to advice in life I’ve ever been given. do was to meet Dr. Jackson. My parents And on February 13 of this year, I promised me when I was six years old acknowledged the 100th anniversary of they would take me to meet him, but the birth of Anna Curry, the 16th of 17 that year he died of a stroke at 54. From children. She was my mother. She has a WWW.RIMED.ORG | RIMJ ARCHIVES | MAY WEBPAGE MAY 2013 RHODE ISLAND MEDICAL JOURNAL 57 IN THE NEWS ideal to capture…It is not a disgrace not Q. What is your assessment of the to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to Affordable Care Act (ACA) thus far? have no stars to reach for.’ A. I would have liked universal access as part of ACA. I think one of the best Q. In your exemplary career in investments we could make as a country medicine and public health, you is that everyone has access to health care have been closely associated with as early as possible. Not only will we two of the three outstanding Ameri- save unnecessary pain and suffering, but can medical schools associated his- we will save money and time. torically with an African-American But I think it went further than ever heritage (Morehouse and Meharry). before in terms of access and quality. I The erstwhile racial barriers in think it incentivizes primary care, quali- other American medical schools ty care, and reduces costs. The ACA said have diminished. Do you see a you are going to be paid for the quality. I continuing role for the historically think that’s a major step forward. black medical schools (including And all indications are that the ACA Howard), in the future? will dramatically reduce the cost of A. Meharry has been around for a long healthcare. It takes time for prevention time, since 1876, and for a hundred to work but in time we can prevent years it educated about half the black many of the chronic diseases we are pay- physicians in the South. During that ing for; 75 percent of Medicare costs go period, its graduates went on to practice for chronic diseases that are preventable. CORRINE GIORDANI, BROWN PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM CORRINE GIORDANI, BROWN PUBLIC HEALTH in underserved communities, mostly If we can promote prevention not in primary care. In addition to race only in the doctor’s office but also in lot to do with who I am. She died on the it took on another role; its graduates the community, I think we are going to day in 1993 it was announced I was to worked where they were most needed, see a reduction in costs. become director of the CDC. She lived much more than other medical schools. long enough to know that. Morehouse, founded later, also assumed Q. Some public health actions on this role. That has nothing to do with the local and national level are con- Q. You mentioned Benjamin Elijah race. It has more to do with what the troversial, such as Mayor Michael Mays. Can you share a recollection country needs. Bloomberg’s recent efforts in New about him from your undergraduate Today, Morehouse is integrated. Our York City to try and curb the sale days at Morehouse? faculty and students are diverse. We of large sodas. What role should A. Dr. Mays challenged students, and were ranked No. 1 in the country last the Surgeon General’s office play Martin Luther King, Jr. [1948 Morehouse year for our social mission. It is No. 1 for in issues such as this to achieve a graduate] was one of them, to excel medical schools when it comes to grad- healthier populace? in academics and in life. Some of his uating under-represented minorities, to A. Washington D.C. is a different words of wisdom: ‘It must be borne in sending its graduates into underserved town when it comes to politics. Every mind that the tragedy in life doesn’t lie communities, and for its graduates going Surgeon General has to work with an in not reaching your goal. The tragedy into primary care. We need more prima- administration, and Congress, but so far, lies in having no goal to reach…It isn’t a ry care, and more diversity in medicine for the most part, that has not stopped calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, and medical education. As long as we the Surgeon General from leading. The but it is a calamity not to dream…It is are leading in that area there is a critical Surgeon General has to be able to have not a disaster to be unable to capture role for us. a bully pulpit. It was Surgeon General your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no Luther Terry who called attention to WWW.RIMED.ORG | RIMJ ARCHIVES | MAY WEBPAGE MAY 2013 RHODE ISLAND MEDICAL JOURNAL 58 IN THE NEWS smoking as a problem in health in 1964. needle exchange. The science said that our graduates are going into primary care We have now halved the number of needle exchange was effective is halting is that many see medicine as a business. smokers in this country in 50 years. And the spread of HIV. But President Clinton We have created the kind of environ- Dr. C. Everett Koop and his response to refused to support legislation making ment where a lot of our graduates feel HIV/AIDS in the early days is another needle exchange legal. His reality was compelled to go into specialties where example of the relevance of the office that Congress was not ready to lift you can make the most money. And of the Surgeon General in this country. the ban on federal funding for needle they have the burden of debt. When I was the Surgeon General we exchange programs. But the role of the I like the national health service called attention to obesity. We are be- scientist is to state the science. They were corps, but as you know it has been cut ginning to see a reversal of that trend. In not listening to the available science.