SPHHS to Screen Documentary Faces of Medicine and Host Discussion with Director Dr. Khama Ennis

Content

The UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences and Office of Equity and Inclusion invite the UMass community to a screening of FACES OF MEDICINE, a documentary created and directed by Dr. Khama Ennis, and discussion with the director. The film will be screened with the Q&A session to follow on Thursday, October 3rd, from 4-6 pm in the Student Union Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.

FACES OF MEDICINE is a documentary project celebrating the paths of some of the Black women who represent only 2.8% of physicians in the United States. This episode features Massachusetts stories as the filmmakers aim to change the expectation of what our doctors look like and who our physicians are. These are the paths of some of the amazing people who are taking care of all of us. The documentary shares their journeys, successes and struggles while reflecting on the allies and challengers who got them where they are.

Dr. Thea James, an emergency physician and one of the first college graduates in her family. She has been an integral part of the medical community in Boston for decades with a focus on people affected by violence & trauma as well as addressing the root causes of health inequity.

Dr. Rose Cesar immigrated to Boston from Haiti as a teen and started medical school at UMass as a newlywed. She has cared for patients in Franklin county for many years as a gastroenterologist and for most of that time, she has been the only Black female physician at her hospital.

Dr. Valerie Stone grew up in NJ in a time where her father could not see the point of her considering med school. She chose a different path that led to her being an early trailblazer and expert in the care of people with HIV and AIDS.

Dr. Lynnette Watkins is the former President and Chief Operating Officer of Cooley Dickinson Hospital. As the daughter of a physician, she is a rare second generation Black ophthalmologist. Hers is a unique perspective on medicine and leadership as a Black woman.

Dr. Khama Ennis spent twenty years as an Emergency physician, including 5 years as the chief and medical director of the Cooley Dickinson Hospital Emergency Department. She has since shifted her focus towards Health Equity and Integrative Health. She developed Faces of Medicine to demonstrate the need for diverse representation in medicine, starting with increasing the numbers of Black female physicians. She has also completed fellowship training in Lifestyle Medicine and is currently completing a fellowship in Integrative Health. She recently became Assistant Medical Director of University Health Services (UHS) at UMass Amherst. She has also recently co-founded a new nonprofit called Diversify Medicine with an aim to expand the pipeline of future physicians.

Dr. Ennis shares her impetus for creating FACES OF MEDICINE this way: “After nearly twenty years as an emergency physician and despite a love of patient care, I found myself in silence with a deep and unshakeable need to transition away from life in the emergency department. The decision was complicated for many reasons. One especially difficult challenge was that as the only full time Black doctor in my ER, I knew leaving would nearly eliminate the possibility that anyone could see a Black emergency physician at that hospital. I worried about what would happen to the Black and BIPOC patients I’d seen who visibly relaxed and felt more comfortable with their care because I was there. 

I came to realize that staying in the ER forever wasn’t the answer to the root cause of the problem that was keeping me there. I needed to replace myself. In order to do that, I want every young Black woman with the drive and interest to be a physician to be able to see herself in medicine. Faces of Medicine will reach into homes and spaces where someone has the spark and perhaps secret wish to become a doctor and tell her that she can. The pursuit of this project has also helped me find a new way back to clinical practice to continue the lifelong journey of healing work that began with my dream as a seven year old child.”

In sharing these diverse experiences, the filmmakers' hope is that any young Black or brown woman can find herself in one of the stories, and feel empowered to pursue medicine if it is her passion.

Everyone who watches will leave with a better understanding of what their next doctor may have experienced along their journey.

Film teaser and more at https://www.facesofmedicine.org .

Post-screening talk back featuring: Khama Ennis, MD, MPH, the project’s Executive Producer, Director & Creator. Audience members will be invited to share their reactions and ask questions.