\nNzia Hall: Alrighty. All right. Can I go ahead and have you state your name?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Gwendolyn Todd-Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay. Awesome. Can you tell us your place and date of birth?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: My what?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Your place and date of birth, so where you\u2019re from?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Oh, my place? Okay. I was born in Wake County. I\u2019m from Zebulon, North Carolina. I was born 1951. It\u2019s a long time ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Not that long ago, not that long ago.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Oh, yeah it is too! Come on now, if we\u2019re gonna be honest with each other.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Hey, look. That\u2019s what I was gonna ask you. Did you pledge anything?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I did not. No, ma\u2019am.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay. If you had, what would you have done? What would you have pledged?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: You know, I\u2019m really not sure. I\u2019ve never had \u2013<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: So, you\u2019re being careful? You\u2019re just being careful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: No, no. I\u2019m not being careful. I never had any like mentor or anything that made me lean one way or the other.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah, okay. I pledged AKA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I pledged AKA. I mean, I like the AKAs, the things that I saw on campus. I pledged because I was more of an introvert and I felt like when I went to undergrad that I needed to do something different, something that was unlike me to do. There were 21 one of us on my line and it was so nice.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Oh, good!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay, back to what you\u2019re doing. We\u2019ve been being recorded. So, okay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Alright. So, can you tell me a little bit about what your family was like, what your childhood was like?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Oh, I had a wonderful childhood. My family, my father was a farmer, so I was raised on a farm. I have five siblings, three brothers and two sisters. I\u2019m the most \u2013 what is it? I have the most wisdom. I\u2019m the oldest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Ah!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: We were taught to work on the farm. My daddy always told us to learn everything that we could learn, even if we didn\u2019t have to do the job. At least we knew how to do it if we ever had to. That was something that I always kept in my brain. He also \u2013 I used to hear him talking. I didn\u2019t hear him and my mom talking about people a lot but sometimes I would hear him say, \u201cYou know, he or she is an educated fool.\u201d I thought to myself, what is an educated fool? Then I recognized that he was talking about people who had gotten their education but because of that no longer could relate to people, farmers, and people in the community who didn\u2019t have an education. You know?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: So, I finally recognized \u2013 I kept that in my brain too. As I started going from one level to the next, to the next, every time I would say, \u201cLord, please, Lord, just don\u2019t let me become an educated fool!\u201d Because my father would be the first one to throw me out of the house. So, I guess the moral of that story is that was the way that I was \u2013 because people tell me \u2013 especially I have a brother-in-law who says, \u201cWell, you know what? You never changed. Just because you have an MD degree,\u201d he said, \u201cyou never changed.\u201d He said, \u201cAnd you don\u2019t know how much I admire that.\u201d That\u2019s been really important to me that regardless of where I was in my education, I could still relate to anybody. I\u2019m sure that helped me in my relationship with my parents, with my patients. In an effort to try to make sure that I talked to them on a level that they understood, so that was an effort that I made.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay. The other thing about my family, like I said, working hard. A funny thing is when I first went to undergrad at Central, that day I thought I\u2019m going to school. I\u2019m going to college. Right? I thought I won\u2019t have to get up and take tobacco out of the barn today. I mean, I\u2019m going to college! I\u2019m going to North Carolina Central University. My daddy came in the room, and I told my sisters. They got up like there were supposed to. They said, \u201cGwen, you know Daddy is calling us.\u201d I said, \u201cI don\u2019t have to go today. I\u2019m going to college.\u201d Then he came in that room, and he said, \u201cWhat is your problem?\u201d So, I had to go! I had to work. I was so angry with him, but I didn\u2019t let him know that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nIt didn\u2019t make any difference to him whether I was going to college or what I was doing. I was going to do what I needed to do there first. That, again, was a lesson. You know?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah. One of the things that has always been in my mind is that my parents never told me what to do as far as my education was concerned. I knew that they had an expectation that I would do my best regardless, but they never pushed me this way. You know? They had an expectation, and they knew that I could do well in school, and they expected me to do that. If I lose my thought sometimes, it\u2019s because after my stroke things sort of went haywire. When I was in \u2013 what was I talking about?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: You were just starting a new thought.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah, but I can\u2019t think of what it was right now. Maybe we\u2019ll come back to it.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay. We can.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Oh, I know. I had to go to work before I could go to Central and the fact that my parents never pushed me. I had always planned on going to undergrad and then becoming a lab tech. I had never considered going to medical school, not at all. I did well in school, but I had to study. Back then, we all thought then \u2013 our other colleagues would have people you had to be a genius to become an MD. Okay? Well, I\u2019m nowhere near a genius, but what I did know was that I needed to study, and I needed to put the work in. If I did that, my results would indicate what my achievements could be. Yeah.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: All right. Awesome. It sounds like you learned a lot of valuable lessons from your father. Who would you say was the most influential in your youth and how, if it wasn\u2019t your father?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: In my youth?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm. Who was the most influential to you?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: My mother and my father, both of them.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Can you tell me more about your mother?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Huh?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Can you tell me a bit more about how your mother was influential?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Oh, my goodness. Let me tell you this first. She raised six of us. Actually, she had seven. One baby died a crib death. There\u2019s another term for that now, actually. She raised six of us and she was \u2013 they got married when she was 18. She had me when she was 19. Then she had all of my siblings, because we\u2019re about a year or two years apart. She hit it. She hit it. However, after she had us \u2013 she didn\u2019t finish high school. My daddy had promised my grandmother that she would be able to finish high school and that he would support her in that. In doing so, it turns out that she was out of school for about 18 years. Then she decided to go back to school and do that one year so she could get her high school diploma.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Wow. That\u2019s cool.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: And my daddy supported her in that. Interesting thing there was that my father couldn\u2019t read that well, but he had an intellect even though he could not read that well. My father was amazing. So, the one thing that I noticed about their relationship, it turns out \u2013 let me go back. She finished high school with me. Yes. She was in my graduating class, and I was the class president.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Wow!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Can you believe it?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That is beautiful! That\u2019s crazy!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: But listen, I\u2019m not finished. That was 18 years that she waited to go back to school. I guess that was after we had gotten big enough that we were in school too. Well, we had to be if I was graduating from high school. Then she waited 18 or 20 more years and she went back to St. Augustine\u2019s and got her undergrad degree.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes, ma\u2019am!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay? Now, that\u2019s amazing, right? But the amazing thing that I recognized in their relationship is that she never made my father feel inferior to her. He never demonstrated any inferiority with her at all. I mean, and they were like two peas in a pod. I just always appreciated that because she got her degree, and he was a farmer. She could\u2019ve done that. Honey, when she\u2019d go to different meetings with her job and things, she\u2019d take him with her. At one point, I said, \u201cMomma, I always recognized that whenever you had an opportunity to go to the meetings and your job was paying for hotels and stuff like that, that you would always take Daddy.\u201d She said, \u201cYeah, girl. I wanted them to see my husband.\u201d My daddy was an attractive man. She said, \u201cI want them to see my husband.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nHe didn\u2019t feel out of place at all. Wherever she went, he was running his mouth if he was splitting [inaudible] [00:13:49] or whatever. He didn\u2019t care. So, they were quite a team. They really were.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: They sound like it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah. My daddy left a legacy in Zebulon. My mom has a legacy in Zebulon also because both of them were community activists. I remember how they supported us. If there was a PTA meeting, they were gonna be there. Anything, and he would come to basketball games that I was a basketball player, or my siblings. He\u2019d make the biggest noise of anybody at the basketball game. So, that kind of support, you know? Like I said, they never said, \u201cYou need to do what we want you to do.\u201d I didn\u2019t recognize that I was going to medical school until I was in my freshman year at North Carolina Central. That was because I had a teacher there who saw my potential. We need to talk about that too at some point. You have to remember that now because I\u2019ll forget it.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I\u2019ll remember it.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: So, when I told them \u2013 when I would come home in the summer, I learned to cook. Because when I came home in the summer, I was the cook and the maid at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: They made you work.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: My mother was working so I said, boy, I\u2019m not gonna get out there in that hot sun. I\u2019m gonna be the cook, the maid, anything that my mother needed me to do. Right? Taking care of my two youngest sisters, anything other than having to go out into the fields again. I was about to say, they never said you need to do this, but when I told them that Dr. Clark had suggested that I go to med school, they said, \u201cWell, if that\u2019s what you think you wanna do, do it.\u201d You know? They never said you need to do this, or you need to do that. They were just supportive of what our decisions were. But once we made those decisions, they expected us to do the work to become the best that we could do in whatever that was. That\u2019s my childhood.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay, okay. Can we go back to the story about you mentioned a teacher at Central that kind of put the idea for medical school in your head?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yes. Oh, my goodness. His name was Dr. Vernon Clark, and he had a relationship with UNC. That\u2019s how I got to go to UNC. I always considered him \u2013 I always said if I got a B in Dr. Clark\u2019s class, I knew it would be an A anywhere else in the world. Because that was his expectation. He would lecture with no notes. He was just so impressive. I was in his class. I was a biology major planning to work in a lab. One day, he talked to me. He said, \u201cWhat are you gonna do, Gwen?\u201d I told him just what I told you. He said, \u201cHave you ever thought about med school?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nExcuse me for a minute, baby. Yes, mother!\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: One second. Okay. There we go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay. So, he said, \u201cWell, I think you could go to medical school.\u201d I thought to myself he\u2019s crazy. As I was walking across campus leaving the biology department that day, I was thinking about what he said. He said, \u201cGive it some thought, Gwen. Give it some thought.\u201d I was walking across the campus and again I was thinking he is crazy. I can\u2019t be no doctor! You know? Nzia, as I walked across the campus, the Lord said to me, \u201cIf he thinks that you can become a physician, you need to at least try it.\u201d Clear as a bell. I have said before how important the Lord is in my life, has always been, will always be. Because he confirmed it. You know? I mean, clear as a bell. \u201cIf Dr. Clark thinks you can go to med school, you need to think about it.\u201d I said to myself, \u201cWhat?\u201d You know?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nIt turns out that UNC was having the premed program. They call it the MED program.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah. I did the MED program.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You went to it? You were in it?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Oh, my goodness! So, he said, \u201cUNC has a summer program for students who are interested in going to med school.\u201d He said, \u201cI want you to consider going to that program in the summer and seeing how you do.\u201d He said, \u201cI expect that you\u2019re gonna do very well.\u201d I thought, again, he is crazy as \u2013 but I went to that program, and I was just shocked. It wasn\u2019t easy, because like I said I\u2019ve always had to study. It didn\u2019t just happen. You know? But I did well in the program. I got good recommendations. I think that might\u2019ve been my junior year. My senior year, I was back at Central. I think I went a second year to the MED program, and I did better, and again got good recommendations. My first year when I applied to med school, I didn\u2019t get accepted any place. So, I decided to go back. Dr. Clark recommended that I stay at Central and get myself in a master\u2019s program so that I could still show when I applied again that I was working towards whatever it was that I needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nSure enough, the next year I got in and Dr. Clark had a lot to do with that because UNC then was looking to get their numbers up for minority students. Dr. Clark was sort of a feeder to UNC. He had the respect of UNC folks of the caliber of students that he would recommend. So, looking at our performance on paper and all of those things, and then knowing him was another way that they got minority students. They had a good relationship. He knew the folks who were in charge of the program. He could get feedback on the folks that he had sent. He must have sent, I don\u2019t know. I can remember off the top of my head maybe three folks that he sent that graduated from UNC, some of them before me. So, he was responsible for a lot of students getting over at UNC. So, I have Dr. Clark to thank that he saw my potential.<\/p>\n
\nWhat\u2019s so important to me is that just the fact that he saw my potential. He encouraged me based on what he saw. As a physician who is Black \u2013 at some point I want you to ask me what\u2019s the distinction between a Black physician versus a physician who is Black.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay? Because, again, I\u2019m gonna forget some of this stuff but it\u2019s a good point that I wanna make to you. Okay? I think I\u2019ve sort of forgot my train of thought. What was I talking about?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: You were talking about how Dr. Clark saw the potential in you.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yes, yes. As a pediatrician, the kids would come in. We would always do the medical stuff, but I would always talk to them about what they wanted to become. I always talked to them about how they were doing in school just to be encouraging because I recognized how Dr. Clark recognized my potential. I also had a great biology teacher in high school. He was the one that was the reason that I wanted to be the lab technician, because I did great in his biology class. Excuse me. That was Dr. Robinson. He was my first person who encouraged me to work hard and perform. He saw that I could do well academically. So, being that I was a pediatrician who was Black, I tried to do more than just the medicine. You know?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nWhen my kids would come in, sometimes I would say, \u201cMom, what can he or she do that\u2019s so well?\u201d Sometimes, she would say, \u201cOh, she speaks well. She can say speeches. Or he can play a musical instrument, or she can sing.\u201d You know? Stuff like that. Oftentimes, if I found out they could sing or if they could play a musical instrument, I\u2019d say, \u201cOkay. The next time he or she comes in, I want him to sing. I want her to sing for me. Or bring the instrument because we want to hear her play. Or bring a speech or make her memorize.\u201d During the time, we had children\u2019s day at church, and they had to memorize speeches at Easter and stuff like that. I would say, \u201cSchedule that appointment before they have to speak, and I want to hear it.\u201d\u00a0 After I finished seeing them, all my staff would come in the hall at the office, and they would have to perform.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nIf somebody could sing, they would sing. Whatever they could, and we just clapped. Parents in the other rooms, we would ask them to come out to the hall because we said we have a performer today or we have a speaker today. You know? I would just cold chills because I knew, and I\u2019m about to cry right now. I knew that we were \u2013 I always told my staff, we are making kings and queens. We are making \u2013 it\u2019s a little thing that we can say or do that goes towards encouraging them to become the kings and queens that they are.<\/p>\n
\nThe other thing in my office was that everybody got a hug. Because I \u2013<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I want you to be my pediatrician!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Well, yeah. Because I could talk to the parent. I could take care of the ear infection, but I really didn\u2019t know all of what was going on at home. You know? I didn\u2019t know if it might be a child sometime who had never had a hug. That happens! We just don\u2019t know. So, I thought, when they come through me as their pediatrician, one thing that they will remember if they had never had a hug, they got a hug. If when I would finish doing what I was doing, their exam and talking with the mom, and I was getting ready to go out the door, some of the kids would say, \u201cDr. Todd-Jones, what about my hug?\u201d I\u2019d say, \u201cOh! Now, don\u2019t you know you\u2019re right? Come here!\u201d It was more than \u2013 my practice was more than taking care of the physical ailments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nWe worked on the mind. We worked on the self-esteem, not only with the kids but with the parents too. Because as a physician, I wanted my parents \u2013 I tried to teach my parents because if they ever left me, especially if they had a child with a problem, let\u2019s say a child who has sickle cell. If they ever left me and didn\u2019t have me as their pediatrician, I wanted them to know what to expect from their next doctor. Because most of my patients were African American, on Medicaid. I had some private pay, but I had a lot of them that were on Medicaid. I wanted my parents to be able to demand a level of care that we gave them. If they didn\u2019t get that, I always said, \u201cIf you don\u2019t get it, you can go somewhere else!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nI always wanted them to know that. I always wanted them to have that expectation of better. Regardless of what their situation was now, an expectation of better for themselves, my parents. If my parents had it, then my patients would have it, right? Because my patients would see it being demonstrated, that expectation being demonstrated in their parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay? So, essentially, that was the kind of practice that I had. Since I\u2019ve been gone, folks have \u2013 when I finally started looking at Facebook, people have gotten in contact with me, and they have remembered things that we talked about. The teenagers, if I see some of them now, especially the boys, we talk about contraceptives, if they were going to college. We don\u2019t need any children now. Contraceptives, the young girls \u2013 we don\u2019t need any babies yet, contraceptives. You know? We talk about it. In my practice, I had another pediatrician who I brought home to Charleston to work, and I had a PA. We all had the same mindset of doing and having an impact on our parents and our patients so that they had an expectation of us and that they recognized we had an expectation for them.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That\u2019s beautiful. I love the way you ran your practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You about made me cry! I mean, I am just talking about it. You know what? That was the Lord\u2019s expectation of me because I wouldn\u2019t have gotten through medical school without him. You know? So, you have to pay back. I had to pay back.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Absolutely!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I think we had maybe about five medical students from my practice who have become physicians now. We have dentists. We have accountants. We have some of everything. That is what was important to me because that was fulfilling their ability to become the kings and queens that they needed to become. Not just because \u2013 I don\u2019t mean just that they all had to be professionals like we are, but other professions that they chose to go in so long that if they chose to do it, they did their best in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Absolutely.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I\u2019m just proud of all of them when I see them. Some of them, when I go back to Charleston now, if I run into any, they\u2019ll say, \u201cDr. Houston, do you remember when you always gave us a hug?\u201d There\u2019s a saying that people see not just what you say but they can appreciate what you do, your actions. That just \u2013 the other thing I always said to myself was, \u201cYou know what, Lord, you\u2019ve given me this opportunity. If I can just change the life of one child being that child\u2019s pediatrician, if I can change one child, I\u2019ll be so thankful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: In my practice, I have changed the life of more than that. I don\u2019t know how many until I go back to Charleston and run into parents or run into my patients who are adults now and they tell me. I get that feedback that I did make that difference for my patients. Okay. All right. What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: All right. Before we delve deeper into your experiences in your practice, I do want to go back to your early years. I know you talked about after high school wanting to work in a lab. Was that the only option you considered? What options did you consider after high school? Was it always straight to college or did you consider other things?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: No, it was \u2013 I didn\u2019t really plan on what I was going to do but I always knew that my parents had an expectation that I would go to undergrad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay. Tell me about your college experience, why you chose Central, how your experiences socially and academically were at Central.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I chose Central because I bypassed Shaw. I bypassed St. Aug, and ANT was down the road. I wanted to be away from home because St. Aug and Shaw would have been too close in Raleigh. I\u2019m only 21 miles from Raleigh. Out of state would\u2019ve been too far from home. But there\u2019s Chapel Hill. I mean, really. Come on now. Not Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central. Okay. So, they would be close to home but not too close.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I can understand that. Yes, ma\u2019am. What year did you graduate from Central?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: 73, I think. I went there in 69 so that would be 73 but I graduated undergrad and then that year, remember, I didn\u2019t get accepted the first year in medical school. In 74 is when I got accepted in medical school. I was there in the master\u2019s program at Central.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: What did you get your Master\u2019s in?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I was gonna be in biology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: How did you finance your college education, undergrad and Master\u2019s?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: God is good. I\u2019m telling you, when I say he\u2019s good. Because my parents, I have five more siblings that they had to put through school. They didn\u2019t have that kind of money. Right? They had already put me \u2013 I had already gone to Central. There was a program, I can\u2019t think of the name of it now, but it was for people in medicine. The government would pay for your medical school training. They would pay the whole thing, but you had to work in an underserved area. I thought, hey, I don\u2019t see a problem with that and then I don\u2019t have to pay back that money. When I start working, that\u2019s gonna be my money. I\u2019ve just gotta go to this place and work in an underserved area. I got my money. My scholarship was for three years. I don\u2019t know how I made it through that first year, but for three years I got that scholarship.<\/p>\n
\nI had to pay back three years after I finished my residency. I had to work in an underserved area. That\u2019s how I went to Charleston because Charleston was underserved, and they had community health centers that had physicians. My thought was to work in Charleston for three years and then I had planned to go back to Atlanta because I trained at Emory. My residency was at Emory and Grading in Atlanta. I\u2019d planned on going back to Atlanta, but I tell people I guess when I got to Charleston I ate too much of the seafood and I enjoyed the people. I enjoyed what I was doing. I enjoyed teaching. I was where I was supposed to be. I was where the Lord wanted me to be. I knew that because I was enjoying it so much. Yeah.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay, awesome! Just to confirm, your parents helped you with undergrad and your master\u2019s and then you got the scholarship.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah. I didn\u2019t finish the master\u2019s program see because I was only in that master\u2019s that one year. Then I reapplied for med school and then I got in the second year, so I didn\u2019t finish the master\u2019s program. Really, Dr. Clark told me. He said, \u201cYou need to keep yourself in a position where in when you reapply they can see that you\u2019re still trying to make yourself better.\u201d You know? So, he said, \u201cConsider going into the master\u2019s program.\u201d So, they can see I\u2019m still doing biology stuff. I\u2019m still doing chemistry stuff. I\u2019m still doing biochemistry stuff. Then I\u2019ll have that on my \u2013 what\u2019s that thing that your grades are on?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Your transcript?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: The transcript. That\u2019s the word. They would see all of that and that would make me even look stronger as an applicant. Yeah.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Can you tell me more about your med school application process. So, why specifically you chose UNC? Why you chose to apply there and end up going there for medical school?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Well, I remember \u2013 why did I end up going to UNC? I had those recommendations from the MED program, so it was almost like an expectation that that\u2019s where I would be going. They saw my performance and they knew who I was. They knew Dr. Clark. They had experienced students who had come from Dr. Clark before. They had done well. Those are the things that they wanted to happen. So, essentially, I was where the Lord wanted me to be at the right time with the right people, and that\u2019s it. It wasn\u2019t me. It wasn\u2019t. I was just doing what I knew I needed to do to keep myself improved academically.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay, okay. What was UNC\u2019s School of Medicine\u2019s reputation amongst the people that matter to you? So, your friends \u2013<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: What was what?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: UNC\u2019s reputation, the School of Medicine\u2019s reputation at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I just knew that it was a good school in the South. It was right here with Duke. I knew \u2013 I mean, I didn\u2019t know that Duke was so much above us because the reputation of Duke, but I knew that UNC also had a good reputation. The other thing is having Dr. Clark. His recommendation fell heavy on me because I felt like he knew what UNC was looking for in a student\u2019s performance. He knew \u2013 he had other students who had gone through their program and had gone through their program successfully. Being at UNC, I could have him to talk to. I maintained a relationship with him until he passed. It wasn\u2019t just a student\/teacher. It was sort of like he was my mentor also. It was an in-state school, so I didn\u2019t have to pay for being out of state. That was another reason to go to Central.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nMy daddy said, \u201cYou can go wherever you want to, but I\u2019m only going to pay for an in-state school.\u201d What kind of option was that? So, I said to myself, \u201cWell, I guess you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: In state it is!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Right. So, that was another reason. Like I said, the distance as far as from home \u2013 now, I could get home in a matter of \u2013 Durham is about an hour if I needed to get home or if they needed to come for something that I was in at Central. That \u2013 excuse me. Excuse me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay. All right. So, did you have the option of attending any other medical school?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: No. I didn\u2019t get accepted anywhere else. I got accepted at Chapel Hill and that\u2019s where I went.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That\u2019s where you were supposed to be.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: That\u2019s where I was supposed to be.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes, ma\u2019am.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Can you tell me about your time at UNC School of Medicine overall?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: When you sent me these questions, I said, oh, my goodness. I\u2019ve gotta go back 40 some years and my brain had a clot!\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: You\u2019ve been doing so good!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Huh?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I said you\u2019ve been doing so good.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: My spinal cord had an injury. Then going back to this stuff \u2013 she wants me to remember all of that? Now, what were we talking about?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: How was your time at UNC?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Huh? Oh, at UNC.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: So, being that we did the MED program, we were already familiar with UNC. It wasn\u2019t like I was going somewhere new. I\u2019m trying to think. Many of the students in our class were in the MED program also. At that time, I think that we had the largest number of minority students in the first-year class. It seems like it was 27 of us. I\u2019m not sure. You could probably look at that data. But we had the support of each other because we already had established a relationship with each other in the MED program. So, we had that support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nOne of the things that I was disappointed about is that we really didn\u2019t have that much of a relationship with the White students. We did whatever we had to do in labs and things that we needed to do together. We did that but being supportive from a friend standpoint, we didn\u2019t have that. We had that with each other, and we had one of two classes above us presented themselves as mentors to us. So, that helped. They just sort of told us what their expectation was for us and what things to look out for. So, that was really important in that experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nI really didn\u2019t have any negative. Like when I try to think about it, I don\u2019t remember experiencing any real negative things. I do remember a funny thing one time. We were in pathology and Dr \u2013 what\u2019s his name? I can\u2019t think of the name right. Dr. Daldoff was a pathologist when I was there. He was talking about wounds and wound care. That sometimes the wounds would get maggots and they were there to eat the dead skin and all that kind of stuff. When we he was talking about, I raised my hand and said, \u201cWell, after they ate the dead skin and all of that, what happened to them?\u201d He said, \u201cThey grew up and flew away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: All right?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: So, what do magots become?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I think they become flies.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: They become something like that, right? Everybody in the class just fell out. I just remember thinking, \u201cOh, my goodness. No, he didn\u2019t!\u201d I did enjoy pathology. I enjoyed surgery when I did my third-year rotations. I enjoyed surgery and I enjoyed pathology. Those were the two, other than pediatrics. In fact, no. To tell you the truth, I hadn\u2019t planned on a becoming a pediatrician. I planned on becoming an adult medicine person. However, during my third and my fourth-year rotations in the hospital, I recognized when I did my pediatric rotation \u2013 no. Let\u2019s go back to the adult people. They would come in sick. They might have diabetes, hypertension, you know all those different things. Okay? I recognized that if you got the diabetes under control then the blood pressure would be a problem. If you did get that under control, they\u2019d have a stroke. It wasn\u2019t like they came in, got better, and went home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nIt really didn\u2019t bother me until I did a rotation in pediatrics. Those little jokers would come in sick; temperature is 104, 105, having febrile seizures and all of this stuff. But if you did the right thing, and I\u2019m exaggerating a little bit but it\u2019s true, if you did the right thing, in 24 to 48 hours you\u2019d go in there and they\u2019d be trying to climb out of the bed. I would say to myself \u2013 I really decided then that pediatrics was what I needed because I needed immediate gratification is what I call it. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s what it is or not, but I enjoyed the fact that what we did made them better then and they went home. Versus older people who\u2019ve got this problem, then they go to this problem, and they might not go home. You know?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I thought about that, and I said, \u201cThis is what I need.\u201d I had done the internal medicine rotation before I did pediatrics. After I did pediatrics, I recognized it is pediatrics for me. I had never contemplated pediatrics. I mean, I took care of my younger siblings, but it wasn\u2019t anything that I thought was so much fun. You know? You have to fight with them. When I did the rotation, when they came in they couldn\u2019t tell you what\u2019s wrong. You had to figure out what was wrong based on what the parents were telling you. Then you didn\u2019t only have to deal with the patient, you had to deal with the parent. Okay? I just recognized that. Then, when you do the right thing and you come back \u2013 the parents would be so upset about how sick they were and all of that stuff. But when you did the right thing and you came back and they saw what you did made a difference in that child\u2019s life, oh man! They were in love forever! That really was a good experience for me at Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n
\nThe other thing was that I really appreciated the folks in the class ahead of us because they were like our mentors. Some of them checked on us. \u201cHow are you doing in this?\u201d So, we weren\u2019t there by ourselves. They had a participatory part in what we were doing. So, not only did we have to make sure we were doing well for our own benefit, we strived to do well because they had an expectation of us to do well. Oftentimes, they could recommend things that we might need to do if we were having problems in some areas. We could talk to them. They could make recommendations. It\u2019s almost like we had somebody ahead of us who already experienced some of the negative things, but they also pointed out the positive things. That was really important to us. We maintained relationships with some, especially the women, the women and men.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nThere was one, Dr. Cirrel Allan. He was like a mentor for all of us. He was probably three or four years ahead of us, but he was like a mentor for my class, for the African American students in my class. That was so, so helpful to know that we had somebody who cared about us like that.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Absolutely! Coming from an environment like Central, that\u2019s an HBCU, what was it like to be one of few Black people at UNC?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I think because we had each other and all of us had an expectation of ourselves, it was great. I really didn\u2019t see the difference that it made that I came from an HBCU. For me, I\u2019ve already recognized that I was a not a good test taker, but if I got my foot in the door, I was in. I was in for the full ride, and I performed. I did that same thing in my residency program, in my internship. There was no inferior concern for me just because I was from an HBCU. The great thing, that MED program, that really was important because what it said to me was you can do this work. Can you take the \u2013 put it on \u2013<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Oh, pause? Okay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah. So, there were five women in my class. Two of them were twins, identical.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: No way!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: They were from Greensboro, Diane and Deborah Scott. Then Casandra Newcurt, we lived together. There was the two of us and then there was another woman, Dr. Linster. She wasn\u2019t as close to the other four of us. She just sort of seemed sort of introverted, maybe. That\u2019s what Dr. Newcurt said. We had each other\u2019s support throughout all of that. We didn\u2019t have any animosity or any jealousy between us. We just liked each other, and we helped each other. Then we had the women and or the men that were ahead of us. If we needed any help, they were there for us also. So, it was sort of like we knew that somebody had us at all times. For me, I knew the Lord had me. That meant a lot.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Good! That\u2019s good that you all had that support system and that you all had each other.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah. Mm-hmm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Do you feel like \u2013 what faculty administrators were you closest to, because it sounds like those five women were the students you were closest too.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Right.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: What administrators do you feel you were closest to?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I can\u2019t think of who that was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I remember Dr. Daldoff. I remember the people in the MED program. There was a woman. I can\u2019t think of her name now, and there was another man. I can\u2019t think of any names right now of faculty folks that made a big impression on me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay. Do you recall facing any hardships as a medical student?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That\u2019s good!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I really don\u2019t. I just know that I had to, like I said, I had to study. I had to put the time and the work in. But as usual, whenever I did that, I achieved, and I became better, and better because of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Absolutely. What about any hardships during medical school outside, like in your personal life, while you were a medical student?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: In my personal life?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Nuh-huh. I mean, I was blessed. I was blessed. I really was. My roommate, Dr. Cassandra Newcurt, and she was interviewed also, she was from Wilmington, and she went to undergrad at Duke. So, when we first got to Chapel Hill, she and Dr. Linster were roommates. I don\u2019t know what happened with them, but they didn\u2019t hit off. Right? Of course, I didn\u2019t know why. So, when Dr. Newcurt \u2013 and I call her Newcurt. She calls me Todd. We\u2019ve always done that. When she and Dr. Linster decided to not be roommates anymore, Newcurt was looking for a roommate, looking for someone who could be a roommate with her. She asked me and I thought, \u201cHmm, I don\u2019t know. There has to be a reason that they couldn\u2019t get along.\u201d Of course, I didn\u2019t know what that reason was, but I thought, \u201cHmm. I don\u2019t know if I should try this or not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nBut we became roommates and we have remained sisters. She had a brother, so she didn\u2019t have a sister. She and I remained sisters until this day. She was \u2013 and the twins, we were close too. The thing that we recognized about the twins is that they always had each other. They didn\u2019t have a real need for anybody else. You know? So, we haven\u2019t been able to maintain that relationship with them, but if we saw each other or did decide to do anything with each other, we would be right back where we were. That was in a supportive type of situation. We didn\u2019t have any conflicts. It wasn\u2019t us against each other. It really wasn\u2019t us against. The kind of support system that we had was a support system that lasted and was the kind that we needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nWe also maintained relationships with the class that was even one year or two years ahead of us, the women in that class. Two of three of them, Dr. Newcurt and myself and them, we became friends and remained friends for life. Yeah. So, that was the way that was.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Good. I\u2019m glad to hear there was so much community amongst you all.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah, it was, and we needed that. A lot of times, you don\u2019t have it. Dr. Newcurt and I were talking about that. Even when I did my residency, I developed relationships with White students, the female students. But after we finished the residency, we just sort of grew apart, but I recognize that there were two Black women and the relationship that we had, we\u2019ve maintained it. Even though we haven\u2019t been able to see each other, we call each other and see how we\u2019re doing and that kind of support system. That means a lot. It doesn\u2019t have to be a lot of people, but it needs to be genuine people.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Absolutely.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: People that you know have got your back. Does that make sense?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: It does. It does. Can you tell me about a time where you asked for help during med school?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: That I asked what?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Tell me about a time that you asked for help during med school.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Just when we were studying for tests and things like that, we had each other that we could depend on. If we needed help, we would help each other. We would do study what you call it. Not study halls.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Like groups?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Study groups. Mm-hmm. Study groups. That\u2019s all I can remember.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah. We had a support system like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Good, good. What kept you steady in pursuit of your medical degree? So, people? Hobbies? Any sources of inspiration that just helped you overcome any doubts that you had or any difficulties?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: In medical school?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes, ma\u2019am.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Or in my residency?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: In medical school.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I just think it as the support system that we had. We knew that we had that support system. We knew that the people who were closest to us were genuine. That may have been folks in our class or folks in the class one to two years ahead of us. We knew that we could go to them if we needed to. That was just a good relationship. It was god-sent, from what I can remember now.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Absolutely. Okay. Now, we\u2019re gonna talk about residency. Can you tell me what residency was like and maybe how you could compare it to the rigor of medical school?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Boy, you\u2019re really hurting my brain.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I\u2019m sorry!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: No, you\u2019re not. Look at that big smile. You aren\u2019t sorry! Ask the question again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay. I\u2019ll ask it in two separate ones. First, just tell me what residency was like for you.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay. I\u2019ve got to think of where I was. When I left medical school, I got accepted at Grady in Atlanta. That was good for me. I don\u2019t remember if I got accepted any place else or not. I know I went to several interviews. I might have got accepted at one other place. I don\u2019t really remember now. I liked Grady because that was Atlanta. Right? At that time, Atlanta was the place to be.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Still is.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Huh?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Still is.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Still is. Yeah, yeah. Like I said, I\u2019m a little old girl from Zebulon, farm country. Here I am going to Atlanta.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: The same thing for me going to UNC.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm. Yeah!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Here\u2019s little old me from Zebulon farm country, UNC. Not Duke but UNC, reputation. I was good to go. What was my question?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Just your experience during residency. What was it like for you?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Being at Grady, that\u2019s an interesting thing. Being at Grady, that was like \u2013 it was an Emory and Grady program. Okay? Grady had more patients, so you had a different caliber of patients at they call it The Grady. Versus at Emory, you had more the White patients, so that\u2019s the difference there. One day I remember at Grady, I remember the nurses at Grady. Boy, they were so proud of us, the Black residents and Black interns. They would help us. Because they\u2019ve been around years, so they knew what to do. You know?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Like I said, I\u2019ve always tried to make sure that I could communicate with and have a relationship with everybody and anymore. So, it didn\u2019t matter that I was the doctor at The Grady, and they were the housekeepers. I acknowledged them. I acknowledged them in the cafeteria, the folks who worked in the cafeteria. I\u2019ve always been \u2013 it wasn\u2019t anything that we were taught. It was what my parents demonstrated that you\u2019re no better than anyone else. You just may have had more opportunity. Okay? So, I just had a real good relationship with the nurses on the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nThey were proud of us. They had an expectation of what I was doing at The Grady because they could hear everybody talking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right, mm-hmm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Attendings, residents, parents, all of that. I made it a point to make sure that they knew that I appreciated them on the floor, the nurses, the clerks, and especially the us folks. But it was everybody, you know. I wanted everybody to know that I appreciated them and that I didn\u2019t think that I was any better than anybody else. Now, I did carry myself so that they recognized that I had an expectation of myself to be respected. Okay?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: So, I carried myself that way. They could appreciate it. It wasn\u2019t so \u2013 to be respected, it\u2019s important.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: It is.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You either establish that one way or the other. You\u2019re either gonna be respected or you\u2019re not gonna be respected. You\u2019re either gonna respect other people or you\u2019re not gonna respect other people, but they knew that. It was almost like they took care of me. They\u2019re on call late at night. The nurses or the housekeepers or whatever would say \u2013 I think I was Dr. Todd then. I hadn\u2019t gotten married. \u201cYou want some food?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: You all just took care of each other.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Huh?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I said you all just took care of each other. They took care of you.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah, yeah. We took care of each other. There was respect for each other. Some of the nurses, when you were doing different procedures, when I was doing a spinal tap or starting an IV or whatever, I could feel their pride when I got the needle in, when I did the spinal tap one time. Not having to do it over and over, I could feel their pride. They didn\u2019t have to say anything. I didn\u2019t have to say anything, but they would give you that look.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm. I know exactly what you mean.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Not just \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Everybody, because again, the thing is respect regardless. I was gonna say this with you and your neurosurgery. What the guy\u2019s name who is the pediatric neurosurgeon?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Are you talking about the new guy?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: No, he was on \u2013 he had dinner at my mother\u2019s house. I wasn\u2019t here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Oh, wow!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: He had dinner at my mother\u2019s house. I\u2019m just gonna say, I don\u2019t know what happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I\u2019m not sure either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You understand what I\u2019m saying?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes, I do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Nzia, look!<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Exactly.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: That thing about respect, it\u2019s because after all of that I had \u2013 he was brilliant with what he did! What happened? I don\u2019t know, but I\u2019m telling you that\u2019s how important respect is. I just couldn\u2019t figure out what happened to him, but when you talked about being a neurosurgeon, I\u2019m thinking he was one of the best, well-known neurosurgeons in the land. You could have him as a mentor if you wanna go in that area. Well, not now.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah, no.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: The possibility would\u2019ve been there. Even now, you can look at what he did because he was a mentor, even though he\u2019s not now. That\u2019s all I\u2019ve gotta say about that.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall; Yes, ma\u2019am. All right. Was there a special moment or event when you felt you came into your own as medical professional?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah, when I was taking call. I need to say too that I did \u2013 well, my residency was three years in pediatrics. I did my first two years at Grady Emory and then my third year I got married and I moved to California. I did my third year at Cedar Sinai in California. Now, what was I gonna say?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That moment that you came into your own as a medical professional. What happened? You spent two years at Grady.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: When those kids would come in sick as they could be and I did the right thing, like I said the next day you could see their improvement. The following day, it might\u2019ve been 24 hours, you could see them trying to climb out of the bed or whatever. You could see the relief of the parents. I could see the encouragement when I was an intern that my resident gave me. I could see the responsibility that he gave me, and the expectation that he or she had of me. We had a great chief resident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Okay.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Then when I was at Cedar Sinai, that would\u2019ve been my third year. I had a cardiac patient in the ICU. The cardiologist, I forgot \u2013 I think he had surgery. I\u2019m not sure what it was now but the cardiologist told me what he needed me to do. I was on call that night. I was a third-year resident, so I had second years under me and first years under me. You would\u2019ve thought that the cardiovascular surgeon would\u2019ve stayed in the hospital to take call for that patient. He left responsibility to me, from Zebulon, North Carolina, farm girl. He told me what to do. He said, \u201cI\u2019ll be available if you need me.\u201d I hadn\u2019t even been there but a year, not even a year yet. He was confident enough to leave that child in my care without being a helicopter attending.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: My performance had impressed him enough that he was comfortable doing that. I thought to myself, this means something. It would\u2019ve been one thing if I had been there and he had seen my performance two years before all the way up to that third year, but I hadn\u2019t even been there a year and he left that responsibility on me. With a lot of prayer and whatever I had that told me what I needed to do, and knowing that I had him in my backup for support, that just meant \u2013 I mean, me? So, I think that\u2019s where I really came into, \u201cYeah, you\u2019re a doc now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: He was always so encouraging. He wrote me wonderful recommendations. I can\u2019t think of his name. I can\u2019t think of his name now, but he was wonderful. He just had an expectation. As I always have done, I just try to work to meet that expectation. The other thing was that during my residency it was important that you know when you need to ask for help. Okay?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: As an intern, you have a second resident, and then you have the third resident above you. If you need help, you need to ask for help. You\u2019re dealing with a life.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right, absolutely!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You shouldn\u2019t be so self-centered \u2013 I\u2019ve got this; I can do this \u2013 that you don\u2019t know how to ask for help. I recognized that that was important also. During the residency, you have help. On the third year, guess who was third year?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: You.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah! So, I had folks under me asking for help. What do I need to do? Like I said that physician \u2013 I cannot think of his name. Like I said, he didn\u2019t know. I hadn\u2019t been there a year and he left his heart patient with me like you would do with the brain patient. Excuse me. You get my point?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That\u2019s a big deal! Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah! I mean, I didn\u2019t feel like it was going to my head when it happened, but when I look back over my career, I thought to myself Dr. \u2013 I\u2019m sorry I can\u2019t remember his name. I said, \u201cHe left me with that patient overnight?\u201d Most of all, the patient was there and alive and doing well the next day. Yay!<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That\u2019s amazing! Wow!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah. Like I said, I was always impressed because I took call at the community health center when I first went to Charleston. Many times, being that I was on call, I would have to go to the emergency room to see patients. One night, I guess this was about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, I heard one of the nurses say, \u201cI wish I could look like that at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.\u201d I said to myself, \u201cWell, do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes, ma\u2019am!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Back then, you had to do all the procedures yourself. I had to do all of my procedures myself. I had to do the spinal tap. I had to start the IV. I had to put in the arterial line, or I had to do a stick for the artery. It was on me. I had to do it. Okay? I did it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes, for sure.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I did it and I wasn\u2019t the only one who noticed that I did it. You know?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Not that it puffed my head, but when I went to the emergency room again, I always maintained and had an expectation of a level of respect from folks in the emergency room, folks in the nursey. Wherever I had to go and perform whatever I needed to do to make sure that my patient was okay, that level of attention that I gave my patient, my expectation of what I needed from the nurses to help me make a decision about what my patient needed, the level of expectation of the radiologist. You know, 2:00 in the morning and you have kind you think might have pneumonia and you\u2019ve gotta send them to get an x-ray. You have to read it because the radiologist might not be there. If I felt like I\u2019m not sure about this, I didn\u2019t have any embarrassment to call somebody and say, \u201cThis is what I think I\u2019m seeing.\u201d Because my biggest thing was that my patient was gonna be okay and not be worried about what I did or didn\u2019t do. At least I gave them the best chance that I could give them with my brain. If I needed somebody else\u2019s brain to help me make sure they had that opportunity to be well, then that\u2019s I gave them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Then the nursey, the same thing. Oh, my god! Whew! I tell people when I was Grady I saw the sun come up so many nights, premature babies, you know. Man, you could hold them in your hand and you\u2019ve gotta put IVs in the veins. Oh, my goodness! Just so many different things that you\u2019re making me remember now. I hadn\u2019t really thought about these things. I do remember always saying, man, I remember the sun coming up in the nursery. So many nights, so many mornings having had newborns, prematures, that you had to do the right thing with to make sure that they were gonna survive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Absolutely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Makes sense?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I do. It makes a whole lot of sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Who were your most influential career mentors and what did you learn from them?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: The cardiologist at Cedar Sinai, Dr. McCottry the woman I told you became my Charleston mom, my two chief residents. My chief resident my first year, his name was Vince. He was so good. We had to present, and he would question. \u201cDid you do this? Did you do that? What were these results?\u201d He pulled it out of you, but he didn\u2019t embarrass you. He had an expectation that you would fall in line and do what you needed to do. His first name was Vincent. I\u2019ve forgotten his last name now. Dr. McCottry in my work life outside of residency. Who else?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I don\u2019t think we were recording when we first talked about her, so could you say a little bit about her now that we\u2019re recording?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Dr. McCaughtry?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I think the thing that impressed me the most about her is when I got into real life medicine, when I was paying back my three years or was it two years. No, no, it was three years because I went to med school four years. When I went to Charleston, when I became the medical director of the community health center and it was heavy on me trying to deal with physicians who have egos this big, right?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes, ma\u2019am.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Dealing with the nurses and all of the things that I had to deal with to try to make sure that center ran like it should run and taking care of patients in low-income areas \u2013 Dr. McCaughtry, like I told you that time when I though the weight of the world was on my shoulders and I just needed somebody to vent to and I needed somebody who was gonna feel sorry for me, here comes Dr. McCaughtry. Oh, honey! Like I said, she was stylish. She was confident.\u00a0 She had an expectation of herself. You knew she had an expectation of you. She had a desire to make sure the patients that community health center, she was on the board of directors, that they got what they needed to get. Just because they were low income, that they wouldn\u2019t be treated any kind of way.<\/p>\n
\nHere\u2019s this woman, I\u2019m expecting her to understand the world on my shoulders. I had this opportunity to talk to her. We closed the door. She was going to make rounds, had on her hat, had on her heels, looked good, all of it. She had all of it. Right? So, I\u2019m telling her about the weight of world on me, I think I told you. Here she comes and I could talk to her about all this stuff that\u2019s going on. She sat there and she looked at me and said, \u201cDr. Todd-Jones, we hired you to do a job and I expect you to do it.\u201d Again, I said to myself, \u201cThat\u2019s all she had to say to me?\u201d She got up, got her purse, and walked out of my office. I said to myself \u2013 I just sat there. I wanted to cry anyway because I was having such a hard time, and I just wanted her to sort of say you\u2019ll be all right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right. She gave you tough love.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Huh?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I said she gave you tough love instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yes! Guess what, my mom said, \u201cHad she not given you that tough love, you would\u2019ve still been at that facility wanting to put your head on somebody\u2019s shoulder to cry.\u201d She said, \u201cBut as it was, you became the medical director that you needed to become. That\u2019s what that was all about.\u201d That was, oh man \u2013 I thought, \u201cShe did that to me?\u201d Excuse me. That and then in hospital \u2013 oh, the other person that was influential in my residency program, Dr. Mamie Phillips. We\u2019ve been talking almost two hours, huh?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: We have, we have.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You can tell me if you wanna stop. We can do it several days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I don\u2019t have any time limit. The time limit I told you before was more of a courtesy to you and your time. I am here to speak with you as long as you want.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Dr. Phillips was in my internship class. She\u2019s a wonderful person. She\u2019s a Black female and we got along like that. We got along with some of the others. All of us, because we had to work together, so all of us worked together, but Mamie maintained our relationship after residency. What was I gonna say?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Maybe how she was influential?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Oh, the other person. I talked about Vince, the chief resident my internship. My second year, Dr \u2013 hmm. She was a Black female, and she was the chief resident. First of all, I was in awe that she was the chief resident. I was so proud. She was short and little. I was about 5\u201910 and a half. I\u2019ve shrunk some now. Mamie was short also. They always called us Mutt and Jeff.\u00a0 Here I was and here she was. Oh, boy. Why am I blocking on the name? It start with an E. She was small but feisty. You could tell when she had an expectation of you, you knew. Eva, she was Eva. Her name was Eva Harris. She had an expectation of herself, first of all, be somebody, chief resident. You know? Nobody \u2013 I mean, you knew she had her stuff together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: She expected you to have your stuff together too, and us even more so. Don\u2019t embarrass me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: \u201cI\u2019m here if you need me. Don\u2019t embarrass me.\u201d She let us know she was there available if we needed her, just don\u2019t you do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right. Absolutely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: We knew that. We kept that the whole time we were there, Mamie and I. We knew that so I was really impressed with her. We maintain a relationship even now. In fact, they called me during COVID. \u201cWhere are you, Gwen? What are you doing?\u201d Because they knew about my accident and all that kind of stuff. We maintained a long-time relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That\u2019s beautiful. I\u2019m glad you had so many influential people in your life. You can tell they had a strong impact on you just the way you talk about them.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Oh, yeah. The foundation was that I was influenced by my Momma and my Daddy because they had an expectation of themselves. Therefore, we knew they had an expectation of us. That\u2019 real important. That\u2019s what I also tried \u2013 I saw how important that was, so I always tried to impart that on my staff, on my parents, and on my patients. Since I didn\u2019t know how many of them, staff, parents, patients, other physicians that I was being the medical director at the center where I worked, I didn\u2019t know how I might\u2019ve been having an impact on them, but I wanted to make sure that impact was a good one.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Good. Okay. Now, we\u2019re gonna come back to your question from earlier. What the difference between a Black physician and a physician that is Black?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: It\u2019s just my definition. I don\u2019t know. Excuse me. Yeah. People used to say, \u201cShe\u2019s a Black pediatrician.\u201d I always thought, I\u2019m a pediatrician who happens to be Black. To me, to say that I\u2019m a Black pediatrician means that I do something different from what my colleagues when it comes to caring for patients. We are all trained to do the same thing!<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: We are. Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: We all trained and know how to diagnose an ear infection, pneumonia, anemia, cancer. We were all trained the same way. Right?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: However, my being able to relate to my patients differently allowed me to be that pediatrician. First, with the training just like any of my colleagues, but because of my experience and my ability to relate to them made me a pediatrician first who is Black. So, being able to relate to that culture, and being able to say to a mom \u2013 even though this kid is having a temperature of 105 and is having febrile seizure and everything seems to be going wrong \u2013 to be able to put your arm around a parent and from my experience that I have had to say, \u201cHe\u2019s gonna be okay.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yep.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: \u201cWe just need a little bit of time but he or she is gonna be okay.\u201d Knowing the meaning of that arm around somebody so that they knew \u2013 that touch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I know. Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I don\u2019t care what the words are, but when you add that touch, I care. I can touch you. I can feel you and I want you touch and feel me so that when I tell you he or she is gonna be okay, you can be confident that that\u2019s the case. Hey, but in the background I\u2019m going, \u201cHelp me, Lord.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That was funny! I like that. I like that. I\u2019ve never heard anyone say that before either, but I like that. Okay.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah, but you get it?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah, I do. I do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You know, it\u2019s like if I\u2019m a Black pediatrician, am I gonna do something different just because I\u2019m a Black pediatrician when it comes to diagnosing a heart murmur?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: When it comes to diagnosing pneumonia, am I gonna do something different? No! All of my colleagues and I were taught the same thing. But the way I address it, the issue, with my patient and with my parents and having an expectation of the folks who are helping me take care of this little life, all the folks on my staff who know that we are grooming kings and queens, that\u2019s where my difference was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Absolutely. Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay, so you get it.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I get it. I get it. I know we already touched on this a bit but if you could go into a little bit more detail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You\u2019re doing good! I don\u2019t see how you keep knowing how to go back to stuff. I like that! You\u2019re bringing me back because I couldn\u2019t go back. I\u2019m telling you; my brain won\u2019t do it. I think about how I used to be able to get lab results at 2:00 at nighttime when I was on call and be able to recall those lab results when I got to the office the next day. I could retain it. Even in the residency program, you had to give that information to your resident. You know?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: How I used to do that and now I\u2019m doing well to remember my own cell number!<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That\u2019s what happens. That\u2019s what happens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: It\u2019s been a long time and that\u2019s why I said 40 some years and she thinks I\u2019m gonna remember something!<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: But you do! You remembered a lot, a whole lot.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You pulled it out of me. I\u2019m good. I\u2019m glad. I\u2019m really happy. I see in your smile that you\u2019re not just saying it to say it. I see that you\u2019re authentic. That\u2019s good.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah, yeah.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay. Keep going. I\u2019m getting tired of you now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: No, don\u2019t get tired of me! All right. How does being a Black physician matter in your workplace, family, and community?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Being a physician who is Black.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes. I\u2019m sorry. I was reading, but yes, being a physician who is Black.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Being a physician who is Black, okay?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes. How does that matter to you?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Because I represent what somebody else can be in the community. I represent what not being an educated fool is. I represent having an expectation of my parents. I did. I represented being able to do that. Therefore, if I had an expectation of them, they could learn to have an expectation of themselves. When they left me, especially my patients who might have had sickle cell, when they left me, and they might\u2019ve had Medicaid. If they had to leave me and go to another physician or they left the town and they\u2019d get another physician, they would have an expectation of those physicians just because of what and how I treated them and the expectation that had of them. So, they can make sure that their child got the kind of care that their child needed, and that was important.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nI knew I wasn\u2019t going to be their pediatrician all of the time, but if I had trained my parents, especially for sickle cell patient, to know that if they got a fever they needed to be seen. If they went somewhere to an emergency room and they saw a physician there who said, \u201cOh, it\u2019s just a cold. We can put you on this antibiotic and you go home.\u201d They can say, \u201cNo, sir. My child has sickle cell. He has a fever. He needs more. You need to look harder. There\u2019s something going on with my child.\u201d They don\u2019t have to get into a fight or anything, but I wanted them to know how to demand more for their child in my absence because I wasn\u2019t gonna be there to make sure that what I did is what somebody else would do.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Exactly.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: But I wanted them to know, and I wanted to be comfortable doing that. What\u2019s the word? What\u2019s the word I\u2019m looking for?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: You wanted them to feel \u2013<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Huh?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: You wanted them to feel confident in advocating for their child?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Being an advocate, that they felt confident being an advocate for their child. Because I never knew how other people would treat them, but I knew if I instilled in my parents that expectation of advocacy for their child, that they could take that and would take that anywhere else. Okay?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That\u2019s so important, especially in our healthcare system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yes, exactly. That was very important to me.\u00a0 I even had a patient who \u2013 what was that he had? I\u2019ve forgotten what it was but when he got sick and most of the time she had to go to the emergency room. The mom had to take him to the emergency room. Whatever it was now, it was something that she could do at home to keep from having to go to the emergency room. I taught her how to do it and she did it and she was confident in doing it. It kept her from having to go to the emergency room for everything all of the time. I don\u2019t know why I can\u2019t think of that child\u2019s diagnosis now. But I said to her, \u201cThis is something you can do at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I said, \u201cWe can teach you to do it.\u201d So, sometimes she would call me after hours if the child had a problem. She could say, \u201cDr. Jones, I\u2019ve already done A, B, C, and D and he\u2019s doing better. I just wanted to let you know what was going on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Oh, wow.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: What is that? That\u2019s almost like that verse in the Bible. What is that thing about fishermen? You can provide a man with fish for their dinner. This is not the exact words, okay?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: But if you teach them how to fish \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You can give that to them, but you teach them how to fish \u2013<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: You can feed yourself forever.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Thank you! Okay. So, if I could teach my parents some things that they needed to do because I had confidence that they had the ability to do it, unlike some of my colleagues may not have had. Okay? They could do it! I supported them in doing that. Knowing that many of them would going to different places in the world, I didn\u2019t have to worry about whether or not they would be an advocate for their child. Long enough explanation? I\u2019m getting tired.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I\u2019m sorry! We\u2019re almost done. I\u2019ve noticed you\u2019ve talked about a lot of proud moments throughout your career.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: A lot of what?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: A lot of proud moments throughout your career.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: If you could think over your whole career, what would you say was your proudest moment or one of them?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I guess when they had this program in Charleston and they recognized Black women who were physicians in the community. I had already left Charleston. I had already had my accident and had my physical challenge. I try not to say being disabled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I was already off the scene in Charleston, but they called me and said, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to come to this program.\u201d Because I was the only pediatrician who was Black in Charleston except for the woman who worked for me during the time that I was in Charleston. So, the effort that they made to make sure that I would be there \u2013\u201d What can we do to ensure that you\u2019ll be here.\u201d I was hardly walking. I can hardly walk now. But the fac that they wanted me to be there that badly and I had been away from Charleston probably two or three years and they wanted me to be there, it meant so much to me. It sort of gave me that feeling that the effort that I made as a pediatrician who was Black was all worth it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Wow.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: You know? So, I think that was one of my proudest moments. Another proud moment was I used to do motivational speaking for kids in Charleston. Being that I was in Charleston for so long, I had everybody who became adults. When I would be in the store and run into somebody that I had encountered as a parent, or a patient and they would give me the feedback of how much they appreciated, and they remembered what I did and what I told them. They knew that I meant what I said. They appreciated it. Just that feedback, that appreciation, just almost makes me cry right now telling you about it. That was my whole effort.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Exactly.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: To make a difference!<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: And you were so successful in that.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: In making a difference, yeah, and I loved it. Since I\u2019ve been up here, people have said, \u201cAre you going to open a practice up here now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: She said, \u201cI\u2019m good!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I did it. It\u2019s over. I\u2019m done.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes, ma\u2019am. Now, it\u2019s time to rest.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yes. Look, and try to get my \u2013 what did I say? I called myself my physical, not disabled, physical challenge and try to keep myself molded and recognizing that I have a physical challenge. It\u2019s not who I used to but things that I have dealt with in life before, I can deal with this to the best of my ability. Knowing that the Lord \u2013 this is where the Lord plans for me to be now. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to get any better. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to get any worse. When people say, \u201cHow are you doing?\u201d I can say, \u201cI\u2019ve been worse.\u201d You know?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: So, to recognize the need to be thankful for where you are now.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes, ma\u2019am.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Appreciate what you went through, what you\u2019ve done, but that\u2019s all over. It\u2019s where you are now. Yeah.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Very wise words.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Huh?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I said very wise words.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall; All right. Two more questions and that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: All right, because I\u2019m tired of you.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: I\u2019m sorry! Not really, but a little bit. All right. What has your experience taught you about ways to support present day minority students and communities?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: That\u2019s why I said to you, look. I want us to do something together. I want to be your mentor. Because a lot of times, you just need somebody else to scream.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: To know that I\u2019ve been through it too. You\u2019ve been through it. I needed days that I needed to scream like with Dr. McCottry. But what Dr. McCottry demonstrated to me was that she sat there, and she listened to me the whole time. I\u2019m just almost about to cry and giving her all this information and thinking that she was going to hug me and say, \u201cBaby, it\u2019s going to be okay.\u201d She gave me tough love and I had to keep tough love. That night I called my mom, and I told her what happened. She said, \u201cThat\u2019s tough love.\u201d She said, \u201cYou wanted one thing, but she knew you needed another.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Exactly.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Look. I said to myself, \u201cI wish somebody would have told me!\u201d What was I talking about? Did I answer your question?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah, ways that you\u2019ve learned through your experiences to support minority students and communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Right. Yeah, yeah. I thought when you called me, I said oh boy. We\u2019ll do this interview. Then I said, well, you know, she\u2019s gonna be there another two years. To get away, to come to Zebulon to do nothing. To have me come to Durham so I can get out of Zebulon and do something together, to be there for you. To say, you know what, I\u2019m not gonna tell you what to do but at least I can tell you what my experience was so that you can hear that so that you can learn how to lean on yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Knowing that you still have someone that you can lean on, a me, a Dr. McCaughtry. She\u2019s dead now but you would have loved her.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: She sounds amazing.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Oh, honey, she could cuss like a sailor but when she put on her educated self face, you\u2019d never know. That would be I think one thing. Ask me that question one more time. I\u2019m getting lost now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: How you\u2019ve learned to support minority students and \u2013<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Oh, yeah. Recognizing that I\u2019m back here now. I\u2019ve been back seven years. I keep saying, \u201cYou know what, Lord, there must be something else that you want me to, something else for me to do because I\u2019m physically challenged but I\u2019m not stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I haven\u2019t stopped. I can\u2019t walk. I can\u2019t run but I can still get around. I can still drive if I\u2019m careful. So, I keep saying there\u2019s something. What is it that you want me to be for somebody else at this point in my life? I think that\u2019s where I am because when I was in Charleston we used to have the medical students. We used to have dinners for them. We used to have women group sessions at our different homes. We wanted them to know that we were there for them. I don\u2019t have that community here in farmland Zebulon, but I can come to Durham.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Some of you all can come this way as a relief, women and men. There are things that I can do just to give you some real good, down-home food!<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Don\u2019t get me excited!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: There are things like that. We\u2019ve established our rapport and it doesn\u2019t stop with just this Zoom session. Are there things that we can do, things that I would love to do? Because when I talked to Dr. Newcurt, I thought \u2013 well, Newcurt is not here because she lives in Florida. She\u2019s a psychiatrist now. Knowing her, if I could tell her in time, she would probably say, \u201cTodd, I can fly up there.\u201d Because she loves to travel. \u201cI can fly up there. What do you want to do? We can do this, or we can do that.\u201d I don\u2019t know whether or not it might get us back in contact with the twins. I know that Dr. Diane Scott is in Durham. She was an anesthesiologist at Duke. Her sister as a pediatrician in Charlotte. I think that she\u2019s still in Charlotte. Those are close enough places that we could do things maybe once a year, twice a year, whatever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Absolutely!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Just as girls with wisdom and grey hair versus girls who are young and staring out and needed some of the stuff that we had. Just sharing. You know?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: About my family, if you notice my name is Gwendolyn Todd-Houston. Okay?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I decided when I got into med school \u2013 I decided if I got into med school there were going to be others in my family who are going to become physicians. My niece is a family medicine physician, and she is in between Chapel Hill and Greensboro. She just moved back here. She was in Iowa, but she finished the time that she had to finish. She\u2019s between Chapel Hill and Greensboro now. So, I maintained my name Todd because I knew that there was going to be another physician somewhere in the family and I wanted name recognition. My niece was working in Columbia, South Carolina. I was in Charleston. One day, they had a conference. The person who was a part of the conference was from Charleston, the physician. So, when she introduced herself he said, \u201cTodd, are you related to Dr. Todd-Jones, the pediatrician in Charleston?\u201d She said, \u201cYes, that\u2019s my aunt.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That\u2019s wonderful. There\u2019s power in a name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Yes! You know? So, I said name recognition and I tried to encourage her to do the same thing, but she didn\u2019t do it, but that\u2019s her thing. But I knew that if I could do medical school, that my nieces and nephews with opportunities and things that my siblings and I provided for them, that somebody else would be interested. Plus, like I said, even with my patients, I ask how are you doing in school and try to provide experiences for my nieces and nephews when I was in Charleston. I kept them for a week or two in the summer so that they would have exposure to me so that they would know Aunt Gwen, because I wasn\u2019t up here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: As it is, they were able to remember learning how to swim when they were with me. Just doing different things, just creating experiences for them so all of that was important. The same thing for why I kept my maiden name for that name recognition. I don\u2019t know how we got on that. Are we almost finished?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: We\u2019re at the last question, the very, very last question. What advice would you give to current medical students who are Black?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Well \u2013 oh, yeah. Okay. Recognize that you haven\u2019t gotten into this position by yourself. Okay? That somewhere along the way somebody else had to be inspirational to you. Somebody else had to encourage you. Somebody else had to set an example for you. That it\u2019s important for you to do the payback for somebody because it was done for you and to appreciate how meaningful it has been for you to be where you are. That you are that because you stand on my shoulders and maybe somebody else\u2019s shoulders. You didn\u2019t do it by yourself. To recognize, for me, how important the Lord is in everything that I\u2019ve done in life and to appreciate the fact that it wasn\u2019t me. It wasn\u2019t how big I am, but it was what the Lord\u2019s expectation was for me and how he provided me the opportunities that he afforded me to do what I\u2019ve done. Ask the question again because I had another thought.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: What advice you have for medical students that are Black?<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Right. Okay. Have confidence in yourself. You have \u2013 if you need help, the medical school has help that you can use. Don\u2019t be afraid to use it, because you have the potential. The fact that you\u2019re there says that your potential is there, but it doesn\u2019t say that it\u2019s gonna be easy all of the time, because it\u2019s not easy all the time. Okay? Right! Okay? But recognize that those hard times that you have make you better for the next encounters that you have to endure. Does that make sense?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: It does, it does.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: It gives you a baseline. It gives you something to add on to so that you can say, okay. Here we come again, Lord. Here it comes again. I\u2019m ready for it with your help. I\u2019m ready for it because of what I\u2019ve experienced in the past. Know that you are because there are many folks who would want you to think that you aren\u2019t because you are a student who is Black.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Recognize that you are representing all of us. Okay?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: When you become a physician, you want to be everybody\u2019s physician regardless to color because people don\u2019t get sick just on their color. If you look past the color, in anatomy we all have the same veins, arteries, heart, lungs. Under that pigmentation, there is no difference except for the struggle that we\u2019ve had to be able to get to the point to recognize I\u2019m looking at a cadaver. Me? You know?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Yeah!<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: That\u2019s where the difference is. The difference is you peel back that skin, a person is a person. When they are sick, I never encountered when I would work in the pediatric emergency room, I never encountered a parent who came in with a sick child who said, \u201cI don\u2019t wanna see her. She\u2019s Black.\u201d All they wanted was for their child to be better. So, if you\u2019re going to become a neurosurgeon, all people are gonna want is for their brains to be better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: You\u2019ve got it.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: To be all right, okay? Have confidence in yourself. Don\u2019t let anybody push you back. Other people have struggles too. They just don\u2019t share them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right. Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Other people have struggles but they don\u2019t share them. They would have you to believe that everything is okey-doke.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: And it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: And it\u2019s not. Why do we have people with mental health problems? Because they want you to think that everything is okey-doke when it\u2019s not. Like I said, as you\u2019re becoming a physician, you\u2019re becoming a physician for everybody. When you present yourself to your patients, you want them to get the feeling that you are there for them regardless to color, ethnicity, gender, whatever. People just wanna know that somebody cares enough about them to take care of them to make sure that they\u2019re gonna be okay.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: When you present yourself, you wanna present yourself in that format. People will remember you, even if it\u2019s for a brief time. Not remember but they\u2019ll be thankful and be thoughtful of you and of what you do, what your efforts. Sometimes, those efforts may not be as good as you need them to be because we\u2019re not perfect. So, sometimes when I\u2019m trying to do a spinal tap, I\u2019m confident that 90 some percent of the time when I hear the first pop as I\u2019m doing their spinal tap that I have it, I\u2019m good. But hey, there\u2019s that other percent of the time where, no. I might not be in the right position. My needle may not be going the right way.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I may have to do it again. At least I know that I\u2019m gonna have to do it again. Then there\u2019s sometimes when I was starting IVs, we had to say, okay. Two times and then you need to let somebody else do it. Don\u2019t keep doing it. Don\u2019t have so much pride that you can\u2019t say, \u201cCall Dr. So-and-so because this is my second time, and I can\u2019t do it.\u201d You\u2019re being considerate of your patient. It may make you feel that your ability is not where you want it to be, but whoever is observing you is saying, \u201cShe recognizes that she needed some help and she asked for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: Right. Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: That makes sense?<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That makes a whole lot of sense.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay. That\u2019s all I can think about right now.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: That was great.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: I\u2019m tired of you.<\/p>\n
\nNzia Hall: We don\u2019t have any more questions. Thank you so much for your time, Dr. Houston. I\u2019m gonna stop the recoding right now.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Todd-Houston: Okay.<\/p>\n
\n[End of Audio]\n
\nDuration: 136 minutes<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[no audio] [00:00:00-00:01:15] Nzia Hall: Alrighty. All right. Can I go ahead and have you state your name? Dr. Todd-Houston: Gwendolyn Todd-Houston.\u00a0 Nzia Hall: Okay. Awesome. Can you tell us your place and date of birth? Dr. Todd-Houston: My what? Nzia Hall: Your place and date of birth, so where you\u2019re from? Dr. Todd-Houston: Oh, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2399,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"acf-tax-class-year":[6],"class_list":["post-2362","alumni-interview","type-alumni-interview","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","acf-tax-class-year-6","odd"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/alumni-interview\/2362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/alumni-interview"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/alumni-interview"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"acf-tax-class-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/acf-tax-class-year?post=2362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}