Black Canadians in Medicine
In this week’s blog, we will celebrate important Black Canadians and their contributions to the medical field.
Black Canadians deal with systemic racism and unequal opportunities throughout their careers. They continue to break barriers and become firsts in their fields. Their contributions to the Canadian healthcare system are inspirational and have helped pave the way for other Black healthcare workers to excel. However, even with the advancements of Black healthcare workers, we still have a long way to go. Black Canadians continue to face inequities and racism in the healthcare system; for example, many medical textbooks only include pictures of the symptoms of white people. Therefore, many doctors are unaware of how symptoms are presented on different coloured skin. There are systemic failures that must be rectified. To do this, healthcare providers and medical institutions must continue to address racism and fix the broken system. Together, we can improve access to care for everyone of every skin colour.
Based on this information, here are three Black healthcare trailblazers who deserve to be celebrated this Black History Month and every month:
Dr. Anderson Ruffin Abbott
First Canadian-born Black doctor.
Dr. Anderson Ruffin, born in 1837, was the first Canadian-born Black doctor. He earned his medical license from the Toronto School of Medicine which later became affiliated with the University of Toronto. He broke racial barriers while working with U.S.-born Dr. Alexander Augusta, the first Black medical student in West Canada. After earning his degree, Abbott served in the Civil War and was one of eight Black surgeons in the American army.
He worked in Chatham, Ontario as a coroner and then in Southern Ontario as a physician. He moved back to the U.S. to be the medical superintendent of Provident Hospital, the first Black hospital in Chicago. He wrote publications about topics including Black history and medicine. He died in 1913 in Toronto.
Lillie Johnson
First Black director of public health in Ontario and founder of the Sickle Cell Association of Ontario.
Lillie Johnson was born on March 16, 1922, in Jamaica. She emigrated to Canada in 1960 after training to become a nurse and midwife in Jamaica and the United Kingdom. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Toronto and became the first Black director of public health in Ontario’s Leeds-Grenville and Lanark district.
In 1981, she created the Sickle Cell Association of Ontario and persuaded the government to add the disease to the newborn screening list. She has won many awards including the Toronto Public Health Champion Award, the Black Health Alliance Legacy Award and Ryerson University’s Viola Desmond Award. Johnson is also an Order of Ontario recipient.
On her 97th birthday in 2019, she spoke at an interview saying, “As I look around me now, it seems as if I have done a special thing for so many young people to be around me, and I enjoy them. So, that for me is a real accomplishment.”
Dr. Onye Nnorom
Family doctor, public health and preventive medicine specialist and president of Black Physicians of Ontario.
Born on February 27, 1981, Dr. Nnorom strives to change Canada’s healthcare system by focusing on the inequities Black people face. She works locally, nationally, and internationally to support this mission.
Locally, she teaches medical students about inequities in medicine. She was an integral part in the creation of the Black Health Vaccine Initiative (BHVI) which ensures Black residents of Ontario receive vaccines but are also educated and vaccinated by Black healthcare workers. Internationally, her podcast, Race, Health and Happiness helps others navigate professional life as racialized individuals like herself.
About the Author
Alexa McCloskey is a grade 11 student from Sarnia, Ontario. She is passionate about medicine and hopes to go to med school in the future. She enjoys volunteering in her community through blog writing and helping others. In her spare time, you can find Alexa teaching children gymnastics and playing with her puppy.
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