What does it mean to feel you belong in your career? New doctors of any background often wrestle with this question for months or years before finally feeling at place, but minority doctors have historically faced barriers that make it even harder to feel that sense of belonging. For many, however, this is changing.
Onyi Esonu, DMD, MD, knows she belongs “each time I connect with a patient who then trusts me to provide their care” and “each time I see a person working in the hospital who looks like me and feels encouraged when they see my badge that says ‘doctor.’”
Dr. Onyi Esonu in the operation room.
“It can be easy to feel like an outsider. Keeping the focus on patient care, which unites us, helps to keep me grounded.”
Dr. Esonu and the other doctors highlighted in this article at times face challenges, but all have honed their unique strengths. Coming from diverse backgrounds and career stages, all are confident knowing they belong to the profession and are eager to pass on the same mentorship and advice they once received themselves.
Finding Belonging Amid Challenges
Dr. Esonu now feels at place in her field, but there have been many moments during her education where she didn’t feel that way — “I have never lived or worked in an environment where the majority of authority figures or learners have looked like me,” she said.
These experiences, however, have given her a chance to grow. She realized her ability as an OMS is what ultimately matters, no matter the environment around her. “There is space for your unique personality and talents to thrive in the field of medicine, even if you must create that space for yourself,” she said.
Khurram Khan, BDS, DMD, has similarly experienced moments where he felt like an outsider. Like Dr. Esonu, he’s grown through these challenges.
“The only way that I was able to overcome was working even harder, being patient and understanding,” he said. “I would have to make more of an effort to prove myself and enlighten others around me, and to continue to represent my race, ethnicity and religion in a positive light.”
Dr. Khan’s background brings advantages, too. As a minority, he believes he is better able to relate to patients and health professionals from a wide range of backgrounds, and he’s proud to be able to represent his minority community as an OMS.
For Kimberley Perkins Davis, DDS, MBA, FICD, being the only representative of her background hasn’t always been easy. And she has experienced it a lot: She was the first Black female resident in her training program and the first Black female resident in the U.S. Army. Ultimately, these experiences have created in her a desire to advocate for representation. Her passion for mentoring and educating those interested in the specialty come to fruition in her role as OMS program director, chair and director of graduate programs at Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry.
“If we are not willing to be proud of our accomplishments and fight for our rightful place within the specialty and career, who will?” she said.
Mentoring Sparks an Interest
Dr. Perkins Davis always knew she would become a doctor. After a friend was in a car accident, she would travel with the family to appointments “in awe of what I saw on the radiographs.”
After college, she joined an MSPH program and it was there that the oral and maxillofacial surgery chair became her mentor.
“He allowed me to watch him perform an extra-oral incision and drainage that changed the trajectory of my life,” she said. “I still remember the finesse of the blade on the skin and how the purulent exudate looked.”
This experience propelled her to land on OMS as a career.
“The mentorship I received from the chair opened my eyes and helped me see possibilities I didn’t know existed,” she said. “This type of guidance and influence is one of the main reasons I advocate for mentorship.”
Mentoring was key to Trayvon Foy, DDS’s decision to become an OMS as well. As a first-year in college, he participated in a program called the Summer Medical and Dental Pipeline Program, which exposed students from minority backgrounds to medicine and dentistry. Through the program, he lived as a dental student for eight weeks and gained his first exposure to OMS.
While observing his first surgery, he said, “I was intrigued by the complexities involved in reconstructing elements of the skull that make up the face. The knowledge these residents and doctors possessed was an admirable quality that I have always wanted to acquire myself, but I had never known how to begin achieving.”
He had to leave the surgery early, but for the rest of the program, he couldn’t stop thinking about it, namely “the emotions I felt from simply being in the operating room at the time,” he said. “I kept envisioning what it would be like if I was one of these oral surgery residents, and now I am.”
Having diverse mentors to look up to can change the trajectory of someone’s career, showing them that, if someone who looks like them can make a difference, they can, too. That’s partially why ACOMS created an ambassador program made up of residents. The program is one way ACOMS provides mentoring to the future generation of OMS professionals.
Faisal Quereshy, MD, DDS, FACS, president-elect of the ACOMS board, suggests residents and oral and maxillofacial surgeons early in their careers get involved with this program as a way to connect with diverse peers and start mentoring early.
“There’s a lot of different ways dental students can connect with people that look, talk and walk like them and make them feel comfortable,” he said. “As an educator, I’m a big resource for a lot of people, and I get a lot of people reaching out to me to connect.”
Through his position on the ACOMS board of regents, Dr. Quereshy has also helped make diverse educational offerings available online through ACOMS Anywhere, available to ACOMS members at all points in their careers. These are particularly helpful for recent graduates who may not be able to take the time or expense needed to travel for an in-person conference. This program, as a result, increases the opportunities available for all.
Light Bulb Moments
Despite bumps along the way, some doctors always have an innate sense they were born for their careers; others come to this realization in one light bulb moment.
For Dr. Foy, this moment happened halfway through his first year of residency, after treating a Black patient in the emergency department. He recalled: “The patient felt compelled to tell me, ‘I have never had a Black doctor before, and I felt a sense of trust with you that I haven’t had with others.’”
“This experience was important for me because it reinforced how I am actively contributing to diversifying the workforce and fostering an atmosphere where patients feel their backgrounds are adequately represented in the medical and dental fields,” he said.
Dr. Quereshy’s light bulb moment happened in the operating room, when he was shadowing a doctor as a dental student. He realized he didn’t want to stop his journey until he got into that OMS’s shoes. Ever since, he’s aimed to keep achievement goals on the horizon to inspire and motivate him to continue growing in his career.
For Dr. Perkins Davis, her moment came after she returned home from her deployment in Iraq, where she had repaired the facial injuries of a doctor whose vehicle had run over a car bomb.
“Out of the blue, I received an email from him — a beautiful note of thanks and a family photo of that soldier. I knew I made a difference.”
Advice for the Next Generation
The doctors highlighted in this piece are full of wonderful advice for up-and-coming OMS professionals. Here are a few tidbits that could be helpful to anyone just starting out in their careers:
“My best advice is to develop a plan and know this journey is not straightforward. Find a good mentor who has been where you want to go. Make certain the mentor has your best interests at heart and can help guide you the correct way. Remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint and things take time. Keep on striving for greatness.”
“Always put your best foot forward. Always remember that you are representing not only yourself but someone else or something else. Minority oral and maxillofacial surgeons have the unique privilege to educate and expose others in the community and to put to rest any negative misconceptions that someone may have regarding that specific minority.”
“Don’t let other people’s limiting beliefs about you or your potential dictate your future. If I listened to everyone who told me ‘no,’ or that I wouldn’t be able to do or be what I wanted, then I wouldn’t be where I am today. Take pride in your journey. Your triumphs and failures are the dreams of those who were — and still are — denied opportunities for education and self-determination. Persevere, know when to pivot and you will find your path. ”