Doctor: Door is open for blacks in medicine

The door is wide open for African Americans interested in medicine and medical research, HUP cardiologist Edward Cooper told a group of graduate students Tuesday afternoon. "You're going to find that being a minority will help," said Cooper, a past president of the American Heart Association. "Only three percent of the doctors in America are African-American. Representing 12 percent of the population, we do four times as much work." Cooper's speech was part of the Pathfinder in Medical Research lunch series. The series allows students to hear successful minority professionals talk about their education and research experiences. Cooper, speaking in the John Morgan Building, said there are many opportunities for young minority students who are prepared and willing to persevere. "It is our responsibility to show young the way and get the points across to people to stay in school, study hard and strive for excellence," Cooper said. "It breaks my heart to see the young not moving in now that the gates are open." Cooper himself has been instrumental in opening those gates. He was the first black staff person at HUP and the first black president of the heart association. Cooper's research centered on "determinants of prognosis" in stroke patients. His work in publicizing the importance of strokes to the medical world played a key role in qualifying him for high-ranking positions in medicine, including the presidency of the heart association. In 1964, when he was chairperson of the National Black Medical Association, there were 160,000 African Americans in college, Cooper said. Today he said that number has risen to over 1.3 million. "We have made so much progress – even though all you hear about are crime and dope and teenage tragedies," Cooper said. Roslyn March-Amegadzie, a research assistant in the biochemistry and physics departments, praised Cooper's "nice, upbeat talk." "It's nice to hear someone whose experience we can understand and relate to," she said.

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