# @upmchealthbeat on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CqsxpbFtYum
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/20935168-upmchealthbeat-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/legacy-do/f56c1be95c55f34de201da56594632c05dda4bf4b9d178fdaddaad4b07b374ed.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-04-06T15:24:26.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** UPMC (@upmchealthbeat) — https://gondola.cc/upmchealthbeat

## Caption

A.J. Conrad Smith, MD, is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he serves as associate chief of cardiology for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Dr. Smith also is director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the UPMC Heart & Vascular Institute. His clinical practice focuses on interventional cardiology with an emphasis on treating complex coronary disease, and transcatheter therapies for valvular heart disease.

His long-standing efforts to promote equity and diversity were honored by the school of medicine in 2021 with the creation of the Conrad Smith Leadership Council. Supported by an endowed fund, the council provides resources for internal medicine residents interested in the study and promotion of equity and diversity in health care.

"In my area of specialization, health disparities are a multidimensional issue. There are many studies that show Black patients are offered cardiac catheterizations, bypass surgery, defibrillators and many other therapeutic measures less often than white patients with similar diseases. In addition, Black patients are less likely to accept appropriate therapies than white patients. This comes in part from our country’s checkered past with respect to medical experimentation in the Black community like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study where black patients with the disease were observed with the disease and the available treatment was purposefully withheld so that researchers could evaluate the natural history of the disease. That history gives many Black patients pause before committing to an invasive procedure like bypass surgery.

It’s important that we as doctors learn from issues of explicit and implicit bias to become more empathic in dealing with minority patients. A big component of this is cultural competence. We have to understand where the patient is coming from, and engage with them on a level so they recognize we really “get it.” When we can break down the barriers between doctor and patient, patients are more willing to have the procedures that we know will benefit them." #NationalMinorityHealthMonth

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## Tags

nationalminorityhealthmonth

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