Black History Month 2004
BLACK HISTORY MONTH ACTIVITIES
During the month of February there were a series of activities to celebrate Black History Month especially as it relates to health care and health care disparities.
Drs. W. Michael Byrd and Linda A. Clayton conducted a seminar highlighting issues they uncovered in writing their two volume, Pulitzer Prize nominated work entitled “An American Health Dilemma: Race, Medicine, and Health care in the United States”
Judge C. Thomas Spurlock
Judge C. Thomas Spurlock was a speaker at BUSM during February 2004 celebrating Black History Month. He was a part of the annual series entitled “Primary Sources” which is designed to give medical students the perspectives of patients as they go through our health care system. Judge Spurlock spoke to the students at a luncheon during which he described his very positive interaction with his physician and Boston Medical Center. He also talked to the students about his perspectives on doctor-patient relationships he has observed as a judge during malpractice cases.
Judge Spurlock was born in Chicago, Illinois where he attended public schools. He received his bachelor’s degree from Boston University and his law degree from the School of Law at B.U. He has served in the District Attorney’s Office in Middlesex County, Massachusetts and The United States Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC. Judge Spurlock also spent time in private practice as a defense attorney. He has been a Superior Court Judge for seventeen years and a patient at Boston University Medical Center for longer than that.
Dr. Hap Farber, Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at Boston University Medical Center, spoke to the audience at the Black History Month Celebration. Dr. Farber is Judge Charles Thomas Suprlock’s physician and was hailed as an example of the most competent and compassionate physician by Judge Spurlock.
