Dr. Lonnie Merrick

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  Brian: Okay. This is Brian Wood. I’m a member of the class of 2023 at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine on May 10th, 2022.

  Lonnie: And this is Lonnie Merrick. I’m a graduate of UNC Medical School class of 1978.

  Brian: Thank you, Dr. Merrick, for sitting down with me. I’ve got a series of questions here that we’ll go through. Feel free to answer them as they come. But also, if something inspires you to tell other stories or other things as we go along based off of a question, feel free to have free reign as well.

  Lonnie: Okay. I’m looking forward to it.

  Brian: Great. So, the first category of questions starts with some of your origin story. So, just a little bit about your place and date of birth is the first thing we like to ask about.

  Lonnie: Well, I grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. And my father was a barber there. And my mother was a housewife. One of four children.

  Brian: What was it like growing up with them?

  Lonnie: Hectic. It was hectic.

  Brian: Gotcha. Were you the oldest or youngest?

  Lonnie: I was the second oldest. My older brother was two years older than I. And I have one that’s two years younger. I was in the middle. And then I have one that’s 10 years younger.

  Brian: Gotcha. Who was most influential in your youth, and how were they influential for you?

  Lonnie: I would say my uncle who was a schoolteacher was most influential in my youth. And he was the guy who would take us to concerts, take us to New York, expand our horizons from Wilmington. He had a masters in hematology. But he taught high school. When my father and my uncle were coming through, the only people – black people who went to school could only really teach or be doctors or lawyers. That was especially in a town like Wilmington.

  Brian: Did you have a family doctor or any other doctors who influenced you as a child?

  Lonnie: I did. But the black physician in the community, especially Wilmington like Dr. Hubert Eton, Dr. Bieler, and Dr. – there were four of them. But not really that influential in me wanting to go into medicine. And my family was very close with Dr. Bieler. He was an ophthalmologist, actually.

  Brian: Gotcha. What options did you consider after high school?

  Lonnie: Well, I always was destined to go to college. That wasn’t an issue in terms of after high school. It was just which college I wanted to go to. It was very different back then. I think I graduated college with $2,500.00 of debt.

  Brian: That’s the dream of many medical students today.

  Lonnie: And Chapel Hill was always my first choice. I only applied to three schools: Chapel Hill, Davidson, and Duke. And I decided that Chapel Hill suited me best.

  Brian: Gotcha. Can you tell me about your undergraduate experience?

  Lonnie: My undergraduate experience was marvelous. I felt like I had a very unique undergraduate experience in that before I even came to Chapel Hill, I’d spent so much time at Chapel Hill that some people thought I was actually a student. A lot of that had to do with the fact that I was on the youth council. I knew a lot of people fromGreensboro That’s why I know all the high schools. And then we used to travel all over the state with the old educational conferences. So, I was very embedded in the state and through that organization.

  And I was actually doing consulting for the state board of education and things of that nature. And so, when I went here, it was just a matter of re-hooking up with all those people that I had previously been in youth council with and state youth council. And so, it was great. And I met just people. What I loved about Chapel Hill was I felt so free here to do what I wanted to do with who I wanted to do it as opposed to – Wilmington’s kind of a cliquey town. And just met a whole bunch of people that I hadn’t met before. It was great.

  Brian: What did you study as an undergraduate?

  Lonnie: Philosophy and psychology.

  Brian: How did you finance your college education?

  Lonnie: I worked as a stevedore. My great uncle put some money aside for me. And I got loans.

  Brian: How did you begin to consider medicine as a career?

  Lonnie: Well, I got burned out with philosophy. And psych just seemed like a dead end. And so, I flipped a coin on April 19th and heads, medical school, tails, law school. So, then I had to get in gear to medical school. I took all my prerequisites starting my junior year. I had nothing else to do before that and finished them that junior year. Started that summer with organic chemistries and then took everything, the three lab courses. So, I had no – they were all electives.

  Brian: Was there anybody at the school that influenced you as a mentor when it came to those premed studies?

  Lonnie: Not really. It’s either do or you don’t. I think the person that influenced me mostly in medical school was Dr. Marion Phillips who was the dean over there who very – he made me feel very comfortable with the whole process.

  Brian: Had you established a relationship with him before you matriculated to UNC?

  Lonnie: No.

  Brian: Gotcha. Were there any enrichment programs for prospective black medical students like UNC’s current MED program that you were familiar with or participated in?

  Lonnie: Well, they had a program that summer before medical school. And I just found it not very helpful. And so, I dropped out of it and got in my car and drove 8,000 miles in three and a half weeks. And for some people it might have proved helpful. But for me, I didn’t find it very helpful.

  Brian: Gotcha. Was it mainly science-focused classes at that point for that program?

  Lonnie: The people who were going to medical school – I think it was mostly science– I wasn’t there that long for it. No. I didn’t feel like I needed more of a break after that growing year because it’s tough taking three lab courses because that hour in lab is not an hour you get in that course.

  Brian: That’s fair. What reputation did the UNC School of Medicine have among the people who mattered to you at that time?

  Lonnie: At that time, it didn’t have a reputation. It had a presence. And I think Dr. Phillips and Dr. Chris Fordham– and I had known Dr. Fordham because one of – just socially, one of my roommates was his daughter. And so, it made me feel very comfortable with that. And I really enjoyed Dr. Fordham. I thought he was just such an approachable guy.

  Brian: Did you have the option of attending a different medical school? And if so, why did you attend UNC in the end?

  Lonnie: I had the option of going to UNC or Bowman Gray as a North Carolina Governor Scholar. But it paid everything. That’s how I got out of medical school with no debt.

  Brian: What made you pick UNC over the other two at that time?

  Lonnie: I liked the vibe in the medical school, and I liked Chapel Hill. I did not like Baptist Hospital at all. And Duke was just so hectic. I was a little suspicious of the first year where do you all the sciences againand then take a second year of research and then second, third, and fourth year – I just like the vibe here.

  Brian: Tell me about your time at UNC School of Medicine overall.

  Lonnie: I had a wonderful time. I had great instructors. People seemed very supportive. Specifically, I remember my basic sciences. I remember Dr. Benson who was the pathologist. I remember the lady, the microbiology teacher. I just thought everybody was very supportive. It wasn’t a lot of pressure. I enjoyed the little mini classes we had and the clinical sciences. I thought the physicians were very impressive. That’s what I liked about it, especially some of the internal medicine and medicine people. They were just great people and physicians.

  Brian: Gotcha. What was it like to be one of the few black people in your class? Did you think often about that fact? If so, why?

  Lonnie: Not really. As I already mentioned, I was in class with more black people than I’d been since the sixth grade. I think my class was almost 20% blackif I have a picture, I’ll have to count before they merged in the ECU people.

  Brian: I’m intrigued by that statement. Was your high school experience one at a predominantly white high school?

  Lonnie: Oh, yeah. In Wilmington, they weren’t gonna bus anybody to a black school. So, of course, they closed that down and sent everybody to the high school.

  Brian: Gotcha. Who were you closest to at the UNC School of Medicine? Why were you close to those people?

  Lonnie: Well, it’s interesting because you’re asking me about Chapel Hill. Well, I came to a radio/TV motion picture institute program here when I was 15 or 16. I wanted to be a disc jockey. I love music. And there was a gentleman by the name Alan Mask who also was in undergraduate with me and medical school. And he still lives in Chapel Hill. I don’t know whether you know Alan or not.

  Brian: I’ve seen his name on the list of people to be interviewed. I’m not sure if they’ve done it yet.

  Lonnie: Yeah. I think there were a lot of people that have stayed friends and hang out.

  Brian: Very good. Do you recall facing hardship as a medical student? Did you ever doubt your own abilities as a med student?

  Lonnie: I think before the term was invented, we always had that imposter syndrome feeling. Do you belong here? And then we would get together and study a lot for the board exams and things like that. I doubt. Absolutely. No doubt about it.

  Brian: Gotcha. How did you overcome those feelings? Or did you just push through it?

  Lonnie: Just push through. Nothing in particular except for, like I said, we would get together and study. I have pictures of us on graduation, all my friends. Like I said, I was around more black people during medical school than any other time in my education.

  Brian: Gotcha. Can you tell me a story about a time you either felt unwelcome or felt like you did not belong?

  Lonnie: The only awkward interactions I really had was I was doing a medicine rotation in Greensboro. And I had this GP guy that I was working in his office. And he was just very off-putting. It wasn’t unwelcome. But it was another edge to him. In fact, they stopped sending people up there after I came back. And it just seemed to be a pattern of a lot of people – and it wasn’t a black/white thing. But there are things that happened that aren’t articulable when you walk in a room – it never happened to me where people walk in a room and says,”

  “Well, I want a real doctor.” Some of my colleagues would say, “I walk into this lady’s room. And they say, ‘Well, okay. Can I have a real doctor?’” And stuff like that. But I never encountered that. But for the most part, it was a very good – like I said, I loved medical school here. It was fun. It was challenging. We had fun. And I’m trying to look back and see the first and second year – everybody’s really afraid in the first year. I’m gonna study every night, be at my desk. And we would laugh about that later. But like I said, I probably had closer relationships in medical school than I did the other – except undergrad school. That was just a different thing. I had so many people to hang out with. It was totally different.

  Brian: One name that I ran across in some of my research looking back at the 1970s at the School of Medicine was the name Eva Clayton who helped run some of the educational programs for black students in their undergraduate years. Did you ever encounter her?

  Lonnie: No, not that I can remember.

  Brian: She may have been a little before you were there?

  Lonnie: Before or after?

  Brian: I think it was 1972 when she was doing some –

  Lonnie: Yeah, I didn’t know her. I didn’t even think about medical school until 1973.

  Brian: Gotcha. And one thing I realized I failed to ask was what year did you graduate from your undergraduate institution?

  Lonnie: I graduated from here – I went to undergrad school here in 1974. And the other thing is I came to school. I was kinda young. I came to school at age 17.

  Brian: Gotcha. An early overachiever, it sounds like.

  Lonnie: Yeah, I guess.

  Brian: Gotcha. Another question we were gonna ask – while you were at UNC School of Medicine, can you tell me about a time when you asked for help while as a medical student?

  Lonnie: What type of help? I think at one time, I may have – as I was finishing up, I was bummed because I think this girl cut me loose. I was feeling a little blue. Everything was on the up and up. But I just couldn’t get going. My uncle had died. I inherited a little bit of money for me. And I think I went to a therapist. And that was it. But no meds or anything. Just talked about it. Every once in a while, people get – there was nothing I wanted. Everything was so right and so peaceful, that I was like, “No. When’s the next storm gonna hit?”

  Brian: Yeah. Gotcha. My next question for you was what kept you steady in pursuit of your medical degree? Were there any people, hobbies, or sources of inspiration that helped you overcome any doubts you might have?

  Lonnie: My father didn’t own a railroad. I only had one shot at it. My father was a barber. And so, that kept me motivated.

  Brian: That is good motivation.

  Lonnie: It is good motivation when you’re it.

  Brian: Yeah. How did you finance your medical education?

  Lonnie: I got a scholarship.

  Brian: And what was the name of that scholarship?

  Lonnie: It was called the North Carolina Governor’s Scholarship.

  Brian: Okay. The next section has us turn to the residency period of your training. Were there any other thoughts on your time at UNC that you wanted to share?

  Lonnie: No, I thought it was great. I really enjoyed it even if I – and I say this all the time. Even if I never practiced medicine for a day in my life, I had a wonderful time. So, it was never a big thing to be a doctor. I enjoyed medical school. I enjoyed the process. I enjoyed the people, the stimulation, the insights that it afforded me. It was a very stimulating time.

  Brian: My grandfather had his 90th birthday party this past week. And he’s a retired physician. And his advice to me was just to always remember to enjoy the journey along the way while I’m in my training. It’ll be gone before you know it.

  Lonnie: It’s true. But I had a good time.

  Brian: Gotcha. So, turning to after you left the UNC School of Medicine, what was residency like compared to the rigor of medical school?

  Lonnie: Well, internship was a lot easier than medical school. I was surprised at California, how slack they were. People would show up for rounds in the morning. And they’d say, “I didn’t get a chance to see the chest X-ray,” or, “I didn’t do this.” It was just a little different than what the rigor and the attention to detail that I was used to in Chapel Hill. But it was good. I did most of my internship – Stanford used to have a hospital in San Jose called Santa Clara Medical Center. And that’s where I did most of my internship was down there. And it was, of course, a rotation in pediatrics, a rotation in all the different things.

  And I think I came to Stanford for four months of that year doing pulmonary medicine, ICU, and a couple other things. But it was a very good place. And then residency was – gosh, I couldn’t ask for a better residency. And compared to a lot of other places, I considered it – it was a gentleman’s residency. There weren’t any divas. And I had a very good time. And it was a wonderful place to do it. Palo Alto was a beautiful place at that time. It still is, but it wasn’t as crowded as it is now. I used to make it from Tahoe to home in three and a half hours. Now you’re lucky if you can do it in seven if you can do it. It just depends on the traffic. That’s why I left Palo Alto when I did.

  It was just you were landlocked. You wanted to maybe go to the city and do something. You can’t leave at 5:00 and see a 7:30 play. You may very well not make it. And so, I don’t know. And the people in my residency class – like I said, I had just got back from a wedding from somebody that was – we stayed close. It was fun. And some of the people I saw this weekend, we were interns together and stuff. So, we’ve done a lot of trips together. I had a very good experience through medicine, met good people.

  Brian: Did you always have in mind that you wanted to leave North Carolina for residency? Or did that just come out of the process?

  Lonnie: I did apply here. But I think that I did wanna go see something else. And I think I applied to UC San Francisco. There weren’t that many top-notch anesthesia programs. Dr. Sue Kyoko who’s chairman of the department here had urged me to do something just different and reach.

  Brian: Sounds like it worked out well.

  Lonnie: It worked out pretty well for me.

  Brian: During that time, was there a special moment or event when you felt like you came into your own as a medical professional during residency?

  Lonnie: For me, I’m still learning today. I don’t read as much as I used to. But as I used to tell people before I left practice seven years ago, there’s only two drugs on my cart that was there when I first started practicing. And the machine was a lot different than the phone I use. Now the iPhone is doing the recording. But no, I don’t think you ever come into your own. You become comfortable with yourself. You become comfortable with the fact that you’re not perfect, and you will make mistakes. And you become comfortable hopefully to be a strong enough person to own up to them. I think that in my medicine – I worked in a lot of different venues.

  When I first finished my residency, I went and worked in private practice for 10 years. Then I said, “Well, I’m gonna come in Chapel Hill.” Then I did that. And then a doctor – I forgot his name – said, “Oh, we need someone to do pain.” So, I went and did a pain fellowship at Stanford. And then they say, “Well, we can’t hire you.” It was 1992. And so, I said, “Okay,” because like I said before – and I had come back before – this was the second time I’d come back. And then I said, “Okay.” And did the whole interview stuff and dances. I always wanted to come back and teach here and work here. It didn’t work out. So, I went back.

  And I worked at Kaiser Permanentewhich was very interesting for me because before that, I worked in private practice. Kaiser was an eye-opener because it was like a team approach. And they teach good medicine. Good people, really. And I worked in a different Kaiser one in San Jose where 40 percent of the people were fellowship trained. And anesthesia, they weren’t using nurses at that time. So, only physician anesthesia. And so, I was there. But still, it was a different vibe too and in terms of the respect you paid everybody, in terms of the receptionist. It was different then. The captain of the ship mentality in private practice, years ago.

  And so, in that whole thing of human relations, interpersonal relations. And that’s where I really learned to be a team player. So, that was a real eye-opener for me. But I got tired of driving 34 miles every morning. So, I went back, and I worked at Stanford on their faculty for a year and a half. Then I worked in the Palo Alto Clinic for a couple of years. Then I went and worked for a closer Kaiser for a year. Then I went to Oregon for a year. Then I came to Santa Barbara for 13 years, and then I retired. So, I’ve worked in a lot of different avenues. Enjoyed them all. And so, it was good.

  Brian: Gotcha. During your career, did you have any mentors or older physicians that you went to for advice or things like that?

  Lonnie: Not really. I went to more my contemporaries for advice because like I said, things, especially in anesthesia, evolve a great deal. But most of my – if I went to advice for things, it was – if I needed things, I’d go to my mentors. But every time I go back to Stanford, I would see one of my advisors, Jay Brodsky who was very close to me, and just – and some of my professors over there, they would saycome skiing with us this weekend. It was a really, like I said, just wonderful experience. It was a nice – I had a good time.

  Brian: And one thing that isn’t on here but I’m curious about is anesthesia as a field I feel like has undergone some pretty dramatic changes with the rise of, as you said, CRNAs and some of that. What changes did you see in the field during your career?

  Lonnie: The CRNAs have always been very front and center here in eastern North Carolina and the southeastern United States. People were not looking for anesthesiologists. They were looking for CRNAs. That’s how they make their money. They charge the same thing. And they run a staple in it. But being able to hand off to them is a different thing. It took me a long time to be comfortable with that. But one of the changes now is that] now they’re trying to do techs not even a CRNA. But at Stanford, they were very – it just depends on different hospitals, different places. Departments are strong.

  At Stanford, except for the cardiac surgery department and the EMT and the ortho, just general surgery wasn’t very strong. But the anesthesia department had a great reputation. So, at Mass General, it was a surgeon’s hospital, and it still is a surgeon’s hospital. So, it just depends. And same thing at Duke when Samson was there. The only changes in anesthesia I think was just that depends on what you’re having, what you’re doing. But it’s still attention to detail. And what drew me to anesthesia is 1) I like it allowed me to apply my pharmacology, my anatomy, my medicine, my everything. And also, I didn’t have to have an office.

  And so, I liked that. And so, that’s what attracted me. And then I love the intensity of it. And it worked for me. Here whenyou’re on call, you’re on call. When you’re not, you’re gone. I enjoyed it. And what a lot of people don’t understand though is that I’ve heard people get really bad advice. “Oh, he’s not very good at communicating. He should think about going in the AMC.” But you only have five minutes to gain someone’s confidence and talk to them. And you better know what you’re doing in terms of medicine.

  I felt my medicine background was strong enough where I could understand what’s going on with the whole patient, not just the topical thing of what they’re getting done. I’d always prided myself on that. And I’m just a technician. So, it was fun. It was a good fit for me.

  Brian: That’s the most nuanced description of anesthesia I think I’ve ever heard. That’s great. I appreciate you sharing that.

  Lonnie: But you really have to – because you only have a few minutes. You gotta be able to sum up what’s important, what’s not important and try to get the patient’s confidence and put them at ease and do a good job. So, it was most fun.

  Brian: That’s great. The last section of questions here is entitled passing on the torch and thinks about your role in society a little more broadly. So, the first question I have for you was how does being a black physician matter in your workplace, family, and community to you?

  Lonnie: I think that I’ve gotten – as time goes on, I understand that I’m a role model to a lot of people look up to me just because they really know when I work in a hospital, people say, “I want you to give my anesthesia,” because they feel comfortable with me. They like the fact that, “This person looks like I am.” And so, representation is important. And I feel like it’s not a burden to carry. It’s a torch to carry. It’s a privilege to do that, to represent because I know what people have gone through in the past. And all the different hospitals, it was good.

  Brian: I know you and I had a chance to chat a little bit before we started recording, and you mentioned your work with the NAACP now. Can you tell me about that work and what inspired you to get involved with that organization?

  Lonnie: Well, when I came back to North Carolina, I had a strong sense that things had changed in terms of the political climate. I was amazed that things seemed to have regressed from when we left in 1993. And so, I did a lot of reading and talking. And there was a book called Dark Money by Jane Mayer. Chapter 13 answered my question. It talked about Mark Meadows up in the mountain and how these different super PACsgot together and decided that all politics truly was local.

  And they started taking over the different state legislators. And that really alarmed me and just keyed me in on what I had to do. And so, I felt I had to get involved. But in terms of – just the health and wellness, someone asked me to do that. It’s all a political organization. And in terms of the contacts, and you see what’s going on, and you understand the nuances of things that are happening, even with the school. For instance, the bruhaha with Nicole Smith and – I don’t know if you’ve read that book Drink from the Well or not.

  Brian: I’ve not.

  Lonnie: It’s a great book. So, the return here’s been good. But the things did not quite move in the direction I thought they would move in as quickly.

  Brian: I’m curious what changes you noted between when you left in 1993 and when you came back you said seven years ago to North Carolina. Was it 2015, about?

  Lonnie: Well, people were more polarized. And the knuckleheads in the state legislature were trying to change things around and it seems like were moving backwards. They were trying to restrict people’s voting rights as well as look at our board of governors in unity, things like that. But I didn’t wanna go down. It was just very different. The way they handled the Silent Sam situation, those kind of things I don’t think would have happened under Chris Fordham, quite honestly. But I really don’t know what’s happening at the medical school. One thing that really amuses me though is how many equity committees there are. I talked to Dr. Crystal Cenea couple times.

  And everybody’s got an equity meeting. They have a zone meeting every two days that this counts or that counts. I finally dropped out of the PFA thing over at the hospital there. It was just too much. I didn’t think I was really having any kind of impact. But mainly, I just wanted to bitch at them because when I first moved here, I tried to get my brother seen. He had prostate cancer. And then he wanted to go to the Lineberger Center [inaudible] [00:41:06] call four times. He was gonna call me back. I was trying to get in to see a patient. I can look and see if he does prostate cancer. “Oh, no. You gotta go throughLineberg] Center first. You gotta do this. You gotta do that.

  And then he’s gotta have a history physical but if he can do all that, he wouldn’t have –” So, I called Duke. One phone call. Boom. Got him in to see someone. That’s where it first starts. And so, I just wanted to give feedback on how difficult it is to – the intake system. No one ever called me back. I called back again. Then the guy explained everything I needed. Things are different. Of course, I used to bring my family here for all of their treatment. I remember one time in 1981, mymother and father had separated.

  My mother was sick. So, she called my father. He came from Nashville. to Wilmington. They did an operation on her for bowel obstruction. But I can tell over the phone-I’m a halfway decent physician- Something’s wrong. Something’s not right here. So, I pack up. I remember distinctly because the morning of the air controller strike – they let me on a plane. I had a whole ICU box with me, everything from dopamine drip on down. Something wasn’t right. Walk in my mother’s room. She’s icteric. They’re feeding her. These are the olden days when you can walk out and look at the chart. She’s got air in the diaphragm. She’s got a white cell count of 23,000.

  So, I get on the phone. I call Dr. Kapizi here. I say, “Look, I wanna get my mother out of this hospital.” This was UNC. This was the New Hanover Hospital down there. I said, “Something’s wrong here,” because I called a friend of mine. I said, “Man, I need you to check up. Go in, check her out. Make sure her kidneys – put in a CMP. See what’s going on. Something’s not right here.” Basically, she had another bowel perforation that they had missed. And I ended up – and then it became a huge thing of, “Oh, this is just people acting bad. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Your mother –” I said, “No.” I finally had to tell my family.

  I said, “I’m leaving now. And she may well die If she stays here, and you listen to that old, white-haired man, she’s definitely gonna die.” They said, “Okay. Let me go with you.” So, I basically took her on my back all the way here to Chapel Hill. First thing they did was roll her into the ER and give her blood. And she put in a Swann. She’s in septic shock. Here they were feeding her. But I could tell that – I could just see it because – and that kind of stuff. So, the hospital here has been really good to me. My uncle was sick with liver cancer. I brought him here. I brought everyone here. And I tried to continue doing that except that it’s so difficult to get people seen here now.

  It’s much easier at Duke. It’s got a much more polished intake. But that’s just the way it’s been – I’ve had nothing but good experiences. And my youngest brother, who was an AIDS patient here, he was seen by Charlie van der Horstearly on. I remember when Charlie first started. So, I’ve got long history at UNC. It’s been good to me. I don’t mean to be beating on it or anything.

  Brian: It sounds like very valid experiences that you’re sharing too.

  Lonnie: Yeah. So, I’ve had very good experiences here, in general. But it’s been bad. But it works for me.

  Brian: Yeah. In you work with some of these equity groups at present day, have you seen any things that you thought have been good outcomes from those?

  Lonnie: They feed on themselves. I have a sign in my office up there in my library that says, “Not just words.” I see just a lot of words, a lot of good intentions, and a lot of people floating from job to job to job to job. And I was interested because I was thinking of Dr.Cene. All the things that they just laid on her. She’s chief equity this and that for all of North – they just laid this stuff on almost every associate black professor that comes to town.

  Honey, Where’s the dessert?

  Brian: We’ll get there.

  Lonnie: The intentions are good and stuff. And it also serves as a good panel for things. But I really haven’t seen a lot of stuff come out of there. But the main thing that I’d like to try to do is – and I’ve tried to talk, to get a neighborhood clinic like most big cities run by students where people can just come and go. I did a survey, a very non-scientific survey over at the arena. I don’t know if you know where that is on Rogers Road but where they give out free food and stuff like that to people and did a survey in two different languages. “If you were sick, where’d you go?” Almost everybody would go to the ER. Nobody primary intake were people who at least touch bases back.

  Very good here. Thank you.

  Brian: My next question for you was what has your experience taught you about ways to support present-day minority students?

  Lonnie: I’d say listen to them. Give them a venue where they can express themselves. And obviously, the financial thing is – it’s always strong. But the most important thing is to listen to them. And that would be one of the most important things. And treat them as not in a condescending or not an exceptional way or as a token. I remember people used to ask me all the time what was your MCAT scores. They wanted to find out do you belong here, can you keep up.

  Brian: How did that make you feel when they asked those kinds of things?

  Lonnie: I just obviously ruffle your feathers thinking that I don’t work here because I’m black because you asked this white guy over here what his MCAT scores were. You want to check my credentials. It’s like the senator’s interviewing this next lady to be supreme court justice. They wanna check her credentials.

  Brian: Yeah. And I’ve had lots of friends who have had similar experiences even to this day with some things along those lines. So, I think that’s a good point. And then my last thing for you is what advice would you give to current black medical students?

  Lonnie: I would say believe in yourself. And that would be it. Believe in yourself because that’s the greatest love of all like George Benson would say. But it’s a great – there’s always a time when you have to believe in yourself.

  Brian: I think that’s great advice. Thank you so much for taking the time for this interview. Any other closing thoughts you wanna share? Or do you wanna leave it there?

  Lonnie: For right now, I’m just gonna leave it there. I’ll ask you a couple of questions. Have you ever read the book, The Emperor’s Malady?

  Brian: The history of cancer?

  Lonnie: Yeah.

  Brian: I have. Yeah.

  Lonnie: That was a great book. I think every medical student should read that book for several reasons because all of the sudden, you realize you can’t really do it by your own so much as serendipity and so much as it talks about research, primary care. I just thought that was one of the most complete books on medicine I’ve ever read. I read it about two years ago because I had a dog develop an oncological problem and thought maybe I can wrap my head around this a little bit better.

  But I think every medical student should read that book. I just love the fact that it starts off with the patient, with leukemia. And then it ends with her doing well But it goes through all the different avenues that you can get into in medicine. And I thought no other book have I read that explains the nuances of just how they sing together. I think that should be required reading for medical students.

  Brian: As a history major, I would agree. I think it had good perspective to give on how much of what we have today is the work of people in the past who’ve been active researchers and things like that too.

  Lonnie: And how it fits together. I thought that was a great book. And that’s what I’ve done mostly since I’ve been retired is just read a lot. I finally got a chance to do a lot of reading. So, that’s what I do.

  Brian: Very good. All right. Any other closing thoughts or questions?

  Lonnie: No. Enjoy your dessert. That looks tasty.

  Brian: Well, thank you so much.

  Lonnie: It was my pleasure.

  [End of Audio]

  Duration: 54 minutes

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About

Dr. Lonnie Merrick was the second oldest of four children born to a barber and housewife in Wilmington, NC. His uncle, a school teacher with master’s degree in hematology, expanded his horizons for what was possible beyond the confines of Wilmington. Dr. Merrick was heavily involved in state youth organizations during his teenage years that led him to conferences across the state and opportunities to be involved in consulting for issues facing the state board of education. He matriculated to UNC at the age of 17, where his initial areas of study were philosophy and psychology before pivoting to a pre-med track in his junior year after flipping a coin to decide if he would pursue medicine or law. He was awarded a North Carolina Governor’s Scholarship to pay for medical school and enrolled at UNC after graduating as an undergrad in 1974. He thoroughly enjoyed his time in medical school as he loved both the instructors and his classmates. He noted that in medical school he was in school with more Black classmates than he had been at any point in his education since sixth grade as the integration of the public schools in Wilmington had led to the him being bussed to largely White schools through junior high and high school. He completed his anesthesia residency at Stanford before practicing in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. He notes the field changed over the course of his career as the tools at his disposal expanded, but the need for quickly establishing trust with patients and thinking clearly in high intensity situations remained constant. After returning to North Carolina in 2015 in retirement, he noted increased polarization of the state politically, which has motivated him to become involved in health initiatives for the local NAACP chapter and equity initiatives for the UNC medical center.