Namaste:

I am Dr. Watson. The name of my podcast is The Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience.

In order for one to truly understand the impetus for this groundbreaking project, I would like to reference a famous character from Greek classical literature, from Homer’s 
Iliad
.

Her name was Cassandra.

Cassandra was a princess and priestess of the House of Troy. Through a rather peculiar chain of events, Cassandra had received the gift of prophecy, but accompanied by the punishment of her always prophesying the truth and having absolutely no one believe her soothsayings.

Therefore, one can well imagine her frustrations

Over twenty years ago, I found myself facing a similar conundrum in my dealings inside the medical community as a medical student, surgical house officer, and later physician. I observed health care inequities at every level, with oftentimes blatantly horrible aberrations being committed against patients and communities of color, or BIPOC. When I voiced my observations and opinions, they were perceived as extremely unwelcome.

I was telling the truth, but the vast majority of the standardized, patriarchal, and conservative medical community I encountered was unwilling to listen and acknowledge any wrongdoing against these specific populations of BIPOC.

Therefore, I experienced the frustrations of Cassandra.

Fast forward to a global pandemic that holds the world at a standstill, and practically every public outlet has sounds, words, and images of public offices, patients, physicians, and communities discussing health care inequality and disparities in medicine.

Really? This was never anything new.

On October 18, 2021, the New York City Board of Health passed a landmark resolution on racism as a public health crisis, requesting that the Health Department expand its anti-racism work. The resolution institutionalizes the vision behind the Health Department’s June 2020 declaration and requires that the Department develop and implement priorities for a racially just recovery from COVID-19.

My podcast endeavor confronts and addresses the multitude of issues encompassing the inhumanity that exists in the medical community’s approach and interactions with BIPOC populations and how to problem solve these recalcitrant issues at the most humanistic level.

The Elementary My Dear Humanities in Medicine project repertoire endeavors to cultivate an expansive fund of knowledge concerning medical inclusivity, and to be the architect of a culturally sustainable infrastructure of benefit to healthcare institutions internationally.

Informed, culturally relevant content.

Custom-created and curated with sensitivity for an informed listener base.

For a more informed future.

That is the mission, vision, and purpose of THE Elementary My Dear Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience.

Thank you.

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