To Dr. Nwora, an internal medicine and pediatrics resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, the idea of “professionalism” in medicine is one coded with racial and gendered assumptions. The archetypal doctors she was exposed to were so often white and male — from the faculty at her medical school to the fictional doctors on television shows. “When I think about a medical professional, I think about a white man in a white coat with a prescription pad,” she said. “I don’t think about people who look like myself and my friends.”
She saw those “professional” stereotypes underscored in the publication of a study, in the Journal of Vascular Surgery, about so-called unprofessional social media content among young vascular surgeons. The piece ran online in December 2019, but resurfaced last week because it was set for publication in the journal’s August print issue. Read More>>>