Improving Healthcare through Community with Black Health Connect

Season 4, Episode 2

Dr. Duclas Charles, Founder of Black Health Connect, joins us to talk about the community-building work he’s doing to bridge gaps in diversity and representation in healthcare. Listen as he and host Eric Sutton discuss why racial concordance, cultural competency training (CCT), equity, and inclusion are so important to healthcare careers and patient outcomes.

Transcript

Eric Sutton [00:00:07] Hi, everyone. This is Eric and you’re listening to Financing Ambition, a Laurel Road podcast.

As we celebrate Black History Month, we’re also reminded of the staggering statistics regarding people of color and the US healthcare system. According to an assessment by the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, black patients received worse care than white patients on 52% of quality measures just as recently as 2023.

The study also found marked disparities in quality of care and patient safety with respect to heart disease, cancer, stroke, maternal health outcomes, pain management, and surgery,

So, to speak on this topic and more, I’m honored to be joined by Dr. Duke Charles, founder of an amazing organization called Black Health Connect. Dr. Charles, welcome to the podcast and thank you for being here today.

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:01:13] Thank you for having me, Eric. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Eric Sutton [00:01:16] Likewise. So, yeah, I’m excited to talk with you today about the incredible work you’re doing around diversity in health care. Dr. Charles Especially in light of everything that we’re seeing in the news today.

So, why don’t we just get started with our discussion with a quick introduction for our listeners so they can get to know a little bit more about you. Could you tell us a bit about your background and how you became a pharmacist?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:01:41] Thanks, Eric. I’m Dr. Duclas Charles I’m a pharmacist from Brooklyn, New York, and the Founder of Black Health Connect. I’ve been a pharmacist since 2014, so it’s about to be 11 years now. I went to Howard University for undergrad and pharmacy school. Howard University has this amazing pharmacy program where I was able to obtain my doctorate degree in six years. I graduated in 2014 and started practicing pharmacy when I moved back to New York.

So, I’ve done a little bit of everything in pharmacy, community pharmacy – like your typical CVS or Walgreens, health system pharmacy management. I did a little bit of a stint in tech, and then for the last 6 to 7 years, I’ve been working in the medical cannabis space where I oversee the dispensing of plant-based medicines in New York State and primarily outside of managing medical cannabis dispensary or pharmacy per se, educating patients and providers on the endocannabinoid system and the science of cannabis as a medicine. So, it’s work I really love to do. So, thank you for having me and I’m excited for this conversation.

Eric Sutton [00:02:52] Okay. Thanks for sharing all that, Dr. Charles. I’m curious to know a little bit more. That’s a broad background. How did all of that passion you have for medicine across all of those experiences lead you to the creation of Black Health Connect. I’m curious, can you tell us about how that organization came to be, and maybe provide some details about its current objectives?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:03:17] Yeah, definitely. So, the passion for medicine and healthcare is like when I decided to go to school for and have a profession in this world and what I wanted to strive for from an education standpoint. But I’ve always had a passion for bringing people together and connecting folks. So, when you’re on campus, sometimes that is more of a social setting as I got integrated into student government, joined student organizations, helped with programing and building out programing for students and the greater community.

But in 2018, I was still in New York as an entrepreneur in the social space, producing events, doing marketing and things of that nature, and kept my pharmacy and my networking and community-building work pretty separate. And then I said to myself, like, how do I bring my two worlds together? So, decided to start hosting a networking mixer just to allow Black professionals and healthcare professionals come together and network and meet each other in the city. The first event was about 100 people. I didn’t really think much of it, but when I started having conversations, I received so much positive feedback around the impact of the event. It also made me recognize that I was taking my HBCU experience for granted. Right? So again, I went to Howard University, a historically Black College University in Washington, D.C., and on campus we have a medical school, the dental school. We have a nursing program; we have physical therapy program. We have the pharmacy program that I attended, a law school, an MBA program.

So, you know, naturally, as I matriculated through school, I also gained this strong network of professionals that would then become my professional network, not just my social network. Whereas my friends who may have attended predominately white institutions, PWIs, or stayed in New York for school, or went to Ivy League universities, they. They experience what the data shows, right? They were the one. They might have been the one person that looked like them in their medical school classroom and nursing program, or 1 in 5 individuals in the in the law school.

Eric Sutton: Right.

Dr. Duclas Charles: So, when we get to the workforce, that lack of diversity is also even more evident. African Americans make up about, I think, 13–15% in United States workforce. But when you look at roles in healthcare, you see less than 6% representation when it comes to physicians, I think less than 5% representation when it comes to pharmacists. And this impacts patient experience. The other thing that I think we don’t always think about is that it impacts the experience of the professionals in this space as they matriculate through school, as they grow on the corporate ladder through their profession. You go to work and you’re isolated, you’re isolated all through school, and then you’re isolated once you get to the workforce. So having that space was really, really appreciated by a lot of the folks that came out to that first event, and they encouraged me to keep it going. So, since then, we continue to do quarterly mixers in New York that have grown from that 100-person event to a thousand people every quarter, but then also expanded it throughout the country. We have communities in over 22 markets domestically, and also expanded internationally to the UK in London, to Accra in Ghana, and to Nairobi and Kenya. And the goal is to truly create a strong professional network that fosters community, education, resources to allow all of us to grow as professionals, leaders, and entrepreneurs within the healthcare ecosystem.

Eric Sutton [00:07:03] Okay. So, if you had to state in more detail what the mission of Black Health Connect is, what would you say?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:07:12] So our mission is to build digital and physical hubs of like-minded individuals for the common goals of advancing in the profession of healthcare, advancing diversity, equity, inclusion in healthcare, and overall health equity. So how do we do those things through our meetups, through the educational events that we have, through the conference that we host and touching and being able to impact the professions, the professionals in within health care, but also and then in turn improving outcomes for the patients that we serve.

Eric Sutton [00:07:47] Awesome. Okay. So, you talked a little bit about how big the organization is and its growth, which is incredible. Are there any future events that maybe our listeners should know about before we get too deep in the conversation?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:08:01] Definitely. So, as they learn more about Black Health Connect, I think we do quarterly meet-ups in a lot of major cities. Something to look out for. And then our largest event and the main thing that we focus on right now is our conference.

So, the Black Health Connect Conference are known as Black Health Con is an annual conference that we host in DC every summer. So, this year’s going to be June 26th to the 30^th in Washington DC, where we bring our entire national network together. The first year we hosted the event, we had a little over 260 attendees from 26 states representing 20 different verticals of healthcare. Last year we had a little bit over 500 attendees from 36 states representing 32 different professions in health care. And, you know, it’s unique because of the fact that the entire ecosystem is represented. So, a lot of our professional conferences that you go to, you may go to your pharmacy conference into all pharmacists and you’re learning about things specific to your profession or the clinical work that you do. Whereas, our goal with this conference is to bring together the different aspects of health care, the different parts of the ecosystem, so that they can start to learn how all of those pieces fit together. They can learn from one another. It gives people the opportunity to maybe find a way to pivot into new roles or careers or just spark ideas about what this continued connectivity can do to produce better outcomes with the healthcare system that we all know needs to be improved in different ways. So, super excited for that and hope some of your listeners are able to attend.

Eric Sutton [00:09:38] Absolutely. And I think that work that you’re doing there is outstanding because, you know, when folks see themselves represented in their community, you know, then they can feel more like a part of its future. Right? And I think what we’ve seen is that representation in healthcare is just as vital as really is in any field. But some of the studies, you know, we’ve sort of dived into indicate that, you know, Black patients often experience better health outcomes when they are treated by Black physicians. I think you mentioned that maybe that’s harder for Black patients to come by than we would like to see. So, has that proven true in your experience and are you aware of maybe any newer research that supports that theory?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:10:30] We’re always talking about this within our community and at our events. Anecdotally and there’s data that shows, that health outcomes can be improved when there is more diversity, when there is more representation in the workforce in that area. There’s an American Economic Review study that shows that Black men who are treated by Black physicians are more likely to agree to preventative services due to what we call that racial concordance, right? And that’s what they linked it with in the study. But you talk about a community that’s a marginalized community that may have distrust within the health system, right? Because of so many things. You look at the Tuskegee experiment from years ago, and even more recent studies that that occurred in the 90s in New York City, there’s reasons why a community may have some distrust. But when there is that empathy in the room and there is that cultural competence in the room, the right questions are asked. People are able to trust their provider more and give the right answers, which then allows them to get better overall care.

Eric Sutton [00:11:49] So, you mentioned this term racial concordance. Can we talk a little bit more about what that means exactly and why that’s important?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:11:58] So, racial concordance is one term that we can use where it refers to a shared identity between a provider and a patient regarding race. But it doesn’t just stop there. There’s cultural concordance. There’s religious concordance, right?

So, if your patient is Muslim and you’re a Muslim physician or provider, you may already know there are certain things that do to my culture, due to my religion, I wouldn’t be able to do, so I may not offer this patient. I would already be working on alternatives for that reason. For some communities where they only consume kosher products, you want to be mindful of the products that you’re recommending. Do they fall in line with that, and give them the options that would allow them to still do what’s best for their health, but could be within the bounds of what they’re comfortable with. So, these are things that we need to understand as providers and as a health are ecosystem to build trust, improve communication, which then again, in turn will improve health outcomes.

Eric Sutton [00:13:03] Sure. That makes a lot of sense. And it would help improve adherence to any treatment plans when there is greater trust between the doctor and the patient. That makes a lot of sense.

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:13:14] Right. And when there’s a treatment plan that’s offered that a patient can actually follow – even things like as a pharmacist, that I always have to keep in mind is asking patients if they don’t consume pork. Right? So, a lot of products that are gelatin products, those gel capsules. And it shifted now, but those are porcine derived. Some are porcine derived or pork derived, some are derived from beef. So, knowing that even recommends the smaller, smaller things are like, I need to recommend a tablet versus a gel capsule. So yeah, just as in it impacts in so many different ways.

Eric Sutton [00:13:50] Absolutely. Okay. So with the work you’ve been doing through Black Health Connect for the past seven years or so, you know, in talking with Black students interested in healthcare careers and pharmacy careers, what do you see as being the biggest challenges that they’re facing today in pursuing a career in, you know, in whatever specialty of healthcare, whether that’s pharmacy or anything else?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:14:13] Well, you know, a majority of our community are professionals that have made it through the education track already. But I think the experiences hold true to current students, aspiring students, and those within the profession. It’s always about finding spaces that they feel safe in. Right? They feel supported in. You know, a lot of these health care programs are extremely competitive. Right? And if you’re already in other in a space where everybody is competing and pushing each other side, it can be really difficult as a student that is a minority in that space who may not feel like they have the support, or you have professors that, you know, truly don’t feel like you’re there for the right reasons or may not want you there. Right? So those experiences can make anybody’s educational process extremely difficult. And finding those spaces where you’re supported, where your professors are pouring into you, where your classmates are supporting you, I think that allows make that that makes processes already difficult a lot easier. Right? When, now you just need to focus on the challenge of learning the science of healthcare, medicine, and what you’re doing and may not have as many of these social obstacles that that come with sometimes being in spaces that aren’t truly inclusive.

Eric Sutton [00:15:45] Absolutely. Do you think personally you are, I guess the experience that you had in training for your pharmacy career, do you think there’s been any change from what you experienced to today, or are we still just right where we were?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:16:00] I definitely think we’re we are where we were before. I mean, if you look at recent headlines of the drop in African American students accepted to medical schools this year, since the shift in cases around diversity, equity, inclusion at the end of last year. You can see where the trend is going. Again, like having gone to HBCU, I’m very lucky to have the experience that I’ve had to be in a class that instead of being a minority, we were the majority, right? And there was representation within my professors and my professors were, you know, in leadership roles within hospitals in the area. And you could see what opportunities and where we could go right within the profession. I think my experience, I don’t want to say is a unique one, but it’s different. It could be different from what others have experienced. I remember we were speaking to students, some students in Boston where there was an entire medical school and there were only four African American students in the entire school out of the hundreds of students in the program. So, I think it depends on where you go, what area you’re looking in, what schools you’re looking at. But I think folks who take that into account with what they want their educational experience to be there, it may impact where they choose to go for their education.

Eric Sutton [00:17:29] Yeah. I was going to say, it sounds like a pretty powerful testimonial for the HBCU educational path to me. So thanks for that. You know, we talked a lot about, you know, some of the community building that you’re doing through your organization to increase diversity in healthcare. And I’m wondering, you know, we talk a lot on this podcast about healthcare employers and their responsibility in change making. And I’m curious if you have any thoughts about, you know, what healthcare employers could be doing to improve diversity in their healthcare systems. And, you know, any advice you might have for healthcare employers that might be listening and want to be part of the solution?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:18:15] I think it’s just being intentional about interfacing with the communities that you say you want to pull in and work with. You know, at our mixers, we work with different companies, organizations where they come to our networking events to recruit. So, just like at the conference, you might see a few hospital systems present. You also see them at our mixers where their recruitment teams will be there. I think a lot of the times you may talk to organizations, and they say it’s hard to find talent or good talent. And I’m consistently in rooms full of talented, educated professionals that are open to new opportunities. I think it’s also just in supporting and investing in organizations that have been doing this work for a while.

You know, Black Health Connect is unique in the fact that we bring together different professionals from the entire health care ecosystem. But, you know, we support, and we are continuing the work of many legacy organizations within our ecosystem as well. So, like, I’m a member of the National Pharmaceutical Association. And a lot of African American pharmacists, that’s the profession or that we join when we’re in school and continue to be a part of as a professional. And we they have an annual conference that I attend where I can get see training. Right? There’s a national medical association where is predominantly black and brown physicians, right? We have the National Black Nurses Association. We have the National Association for Health Service Executives.

So, there are a lot of these there are a lot of organizations that, especially because at one point we could even join the American Association for that profession, at one point we were barred from joining. We would not be allowed to be members that had to had to be created to build professional networks within the healthcare profession. And I think that those are amazing touch points for companies to partner with and attend their conferences, support and be able to engage with the professionals that they’re looking for.

Eric Sutton [00:20:20] Sure. That’s great advice. And, you know, building off of that, I want to talk about, you know, cultural competency training (CCT) in healthcare environments, too. I know that CCT has been the focus of at least two health services research studies that were published by Biomed Central in the 2010s. Would you mind talking a little bit about what cultural competency training or CCT is and why that’s important?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:20:53] So cultural competency training and health care is a process that helps health care professionals provide more effective care to patients of diverse backgrounds. So even if you feel like you have racial concordance or cultural concordance, or because you may not have that, it’s a way for you to be more aware of the needs are the differences when you’re dealing with the patient. It could go from understanding, like in certain cultures, everybody always has a middle name or two middle names, right? So, sometimes you ask a patient their name, they’ll give you two names or three names, and people put down the first two as the first and the last name. And that last name was really the middle name. And now they’re in the system with another last name, and you’re creating a whole new patient record because it’s not something that’s top of mind that this is a norm within this community or this culture.

So, that’s like an example. But again, it goes back to the earlier things we’re speaking about in terms of, you know, dietary restrictions, religious restrictions, even with language right now, you need to have a translator in certain rooms to have these conversations. You want a medically trained translator, not somebody that’s a family member, just translating for the patient, because there may be a gap in the information that’s being given. So, all of these things are important when it comes to providing the best care for patients that come from different backgrounds and especially in heterogeneous community, that America is where we’re a melting pot of different cultures and backgrounds and nationalities. And we want a health care system that can serve everyone. So cultural competency is key to that.

Eric Sutton [00:22:46] Yeah. I mean, what I’m hearing is that, you know, cultural competency training is a win-win scenario because you’ve got, you know, I guess you’d have doctors that feel more confident in the care they can provide to members of other cultural communities, but also patients who feel more seen and more trusting and satisfied with the care they’re getting. So that makes a whole lot of sense to me as well.

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:23:14] Yeah, 100%. The key thing for health care is a very human thing. It’s science-backed, but the empathy, the empathy that it takes to provide amazing care is important. So, and I think that that’s why all of this work and having diversity and having a diversity of thought and having empathy for the patients that you’re serving, like it allows you to be a better provider.

Eric Sutton [00:23:39] Absolutely. Okay. So, Dr. Charles, we’re getting close to the end of our time today, but I want to start closing out the conversation, if you don’t mind, with some actionable advice for our listeners, which is something that we try to bring to every episode. So, with that, what would you say are your 1 or 2 top pieces of advice for Black healthcare professionals or Black students who are considering pursuing a career in healthcare? What would that advice be?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:24:12] I think my biggest one is kind of like the slogan for our organization is just find your community.

Eric Sutton: Okay. There you go.

Dr. Duclas Charles: It’s truly important. Even if you find yourself in in a situation where you may not feel like it’s inclusive, you can still strive to find your community as much as you can find the support that you need. Find the folks that have been through similar experiences as you, the folks who have gotten to places that you want to get to. That’s our main goal at Black Health Connect is to make it easier for folks to find their community, find their support systems, find their outlets. I think that’s my biggest piece of advice.

Eric Sutton [00:24:51] Okay. That sounds like solid advice. Thank you. And so, if our listeners did want to connect with Black Health Connect and get involved more, where could they find you online?

Dr. Duclas Charles [00:25:04] So, we are at BlackHealthConnect.com. You can find more information about our conference at BlackHealthCon.com and it’s Black Health Connect on all social media platforms.

That’s our handle so definitely find us there. We’re really good with direct messages on social media. Or you can email us at [email protected] if you want to work with us some more.

Eric Sutton [00:25:33] All right. So, if anybody out there is looking for their community, this is a great opportunity to connect with Dr. Charles and Black Health Connect. Awesome. Thank you so much, Dr. Charles. And thank you for being with us today and talking about the importance of Black representation in healthcare, as well as, of course, all the great work that you’re doing through Black Health Connect.

And to our listeners, thanks for joining us and Happy Black History Month to you. A quick reminder that if you have a financial question, you could always send us your question for a chance to have it answered by our own Laurel Road experts in an upcoming episode. Just visit laurelroad.com/listener-questions or you can send us a DM on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Stay tuned for the next episode of Financing Ambition, Season 4.

Episode Notes

• Rachel Brief Nutrition
•  https://www.blackhealthconnect.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/blackhealthconnect/
• aeaweb.org
• harvardpublichealth.org
•  commonwealthfund.org
• https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fundreports/2024/apr/advancing–racial–equity–us–health–care
•  bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com
• bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com
• equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com

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