Mini MED Student Profiles

Inspired by the popular Short Coat Shorts series, we complied profiles of some future black physicians to inspire younger generations on their journeys to medical school. Each of the young men and women featured below is a participant in this summer's Medical Education Development program (MED). Now in its 43rd year, MED is a nationally renowned, three-month intensive academic program which exposes pre-medical and pre-dental students from underrepresented backgrounds to the rigorous curriculum they will face in professional school. WCBD's fundraising efforts in Summer 2017 will support the MED program and all of the bright students below, who you'll soon see at medical schools all across the country.
Learn more about the MED Program here.

Tahj Blow

Hometown
Brooklyn, NY

Why medicine? What is your motivation to pursue this career?
My motivation to become more involved in medicine is to ameliorate the relationship between American healthcare professionals and our country’s more vulnerable communities. These communities have been abused through medical controversies such as the Skid Row Cancer Study and Tuskegee syphilis experiment over the last century, and healthcare professionals have undermined the trust that other marginalized communities place in them as a result. I hope to use my passion for compassion and emotional intelligence to own and absorb some of the burden that those in the profession must carry. In doing so, I hope to empower these communities to view more healthcare professionals as those worth their time and their trust.

What advice do you have for a high schooler or college student with aspirations similar to yours?
Engage with others as they are. Apathy is the first step down the road of abuse, and it is born out of inactive engagement. Strive to see others for their merits rather than their failures. Listen for their knowledge rather than their lack thereof. Endeavor to see others as complete and thus flawed individuals, so to learn the best ways to empower and support them.

What Our Supporters Are Saying

During the 2016 Howard University commencement address, President Barack Obama said to the graduates, "Be confident in your Blackness." WCBD is at the forefront of this movement in addition to promoting peak Black Excellence. I could not be more proud yet humbled by rocking this apparel and supporting the overall mission.