Damon Scott Tweedy is an American physician who is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the

Duke University School of Medicine The Duke University School of Medicine, commonly known as Duke Med, is the medical school of Duke University. It was established in 1925 by James B. Duke. The School of Medicine, along with the Duke University School of Nursing, Duke Universi ...

. In 2015 Tweedy published his memoir, ''Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine''.

Early life and education

Tweedy was born into a socially conservative family. He was an undergraduate student at the

University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a Public university, public research university in Catonsville, Maryland named after Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County. It had a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 un ...

where he played

UMBC Retrievers men's basketball The UMBC Retrievers men's basketball team represents the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition as a member of the America East Conference. They play their home games at ...

. Tweedy was a student at the

in the mid-1990s, and experienced racism as commonplace in society and medicine. As a medical student, Tweedy was mistaken by a professor for a caretaker. He has said that he was worried that he was a product of affirmative action. In 2000 he graduated from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. After graduating in medicine, Tweedy moved to

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he studied law.

Research and career

Tweedy was appointed associate professor of psychiatry at the

. He has argued that to address racial inequalities in healthcare, America needs more African American doctors. He attributes the inequity in outcomes to mistrust of African-American people in their majority white doctors, and the mistrust of physicians in their African-American patients. This influences the demographics of patients who take part in clinical studies, which lessens the impact of medical research. He has investigated the history of segregation at

Book

In 2015 Tweedy published his memoir, ''Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine'', which explores race and its interactions with medicine. The book was well received by critics. ''

The British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a fortnightly peer-reviewed medical journal, published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, which in turn is wholly-owned by the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world' ...

'' admired "Tweedy's unflinching honesty and fierce introspection." ''Black Man in a White Coat'' was selected as one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine. It was also recommended reading by

Oprah's Book Club Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show '' The Oprah Winfrey Show'', highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new book, usually a novel, for view ...

and ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

''.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tweedy, Damon Scott Living people Year of birth missing (living people) UMBC Retrievers men's basketball players University of Maryland, Baltimore County alumni Duke University School of Medicine faculty Duke University School of Medicine alumni Yale Law School alumni