During her time as a senior resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Aisha Mustapha encountered a woman from Liberia who came in with signs of liver failure. After running tests and learning more about the patient, Mustapha realized the woman had liver cancer.
When she informed her patient about her condition, Mustapha remembers the woman looking at her in a distinct way, saying that the physician appeared to be African. When she told her patient that she was Nigerian, the women said, “Oh, you’re my sister. Pray with me.”
From there, the patient began to introduce Mustapha to her daughter and then other members of her family. Through conversations with the woman and her family, Mustapha learned that the patient had known about her condition for a long time and had not been receiving the care that she needed.
“It felt really good for me because I was able to not only develop trust with the patient, but also her family,” Mustapha explained. “They were always so thankful because they felt like someone was finally listening and they felt like if someone had listened, her cancer would have been treated earlier.”
Medical mistreatment, historically experienced by Black Americans and other underrepresented groups leaves many uneasy when it comes to receiving care. The medical field is working to rebuild trust with communities that have been wronged by events such as the Tuskegee syphilis experiments and the treatment of Henrietta Lacks.
Mustapha realizes that connecting with communities comes with challenges.
What has helped, she said, is when providers share lived experiences and characteristics such as race. “I think it takes away a layer of distrust that people typically experience with physicians or just in the health care field in general,” she said. “It makes it easier for people to open up to you and understand their specific struggles, whether it be culturally or in their community.”
Currently, Mustapha is a vascular medicine fellow within Emory University School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology. She is a recipient of the Robert A. Winn Career Development Award, one of the two awards within the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program given to physicians who aim to increase diversity in clinical trials. The program is funded by the Bristol Meyers Squibb Foundation, a global bio-pharmaceutical company.
Mustapha will design and implement the SMARTSTEP trial, a study that focuses on peripheral arterial disease, which will be conducted through the Grady Health System. By leading her own clinical trial, Mustapha is part of the solution to involving more communities in medicine. As a Black female physician who is an immigrant, she is redefining what has been accepted as the norm in a white, male dominated field.
“Dr. Mustapha is someone who comes to the country with a different perspective, a different orientation. [She] will be trained for two years understanding who [she] is and how [she] can most effectively serve patients and communities,” said John Damonti, president of the Bristol Meyers Squibb Foundation.
Mustapha, born and raised in Nigeria, is the daughter of a physician but while growing up she never felt pressure to become one. Her father, Kazeem, was a physician with a passion for general surgery, women’s health and community advocacy.
“I think my dad was always in the back of my mind, and everything he’s done has always been inspiring,” Mustapha said. “ So, I think that’s always been the foundation of everything that I’ve decided to work on or go into.”
For Mustapha, her ability to connect with a wide range of people comes naturally. By overcoming distrust, she hopes to contribute to better health outcomes for the people that she serves.
“My parents raised me and my siblings with this mentality, whatever career you choose, you should be able to give back,” Mustapha said. “You should be able to make a difference.”
“I carry that with me with everything I do.”
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