September 30, 2025 • 16 mins
We spoke with Dr. Husnain Kermalli, Chief Medical Officer at St. Mary's Hospital about the Black Men In White Coats Youth Summit. The event aims to increase the number of Black men in the field of medicine through exposure, inspiration, and mentorship.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Allison de Murz. My guest this morning is doctor huss
Named Carmali. He is chief medical officer at Saint Mary's
Hospital in Waterbury. Good morning, Good.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Morning, Alison. Very nice to talk with you this morning.
You too.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I was born and raised in Waterbury. Actually I was
born at Saint Mary's Hospital.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Such a small world. We've run into people all the
time across the state of Connecticut who have that collection,
and I think Saint Mary's, like any of our obstructric
team that's across the state, do a great job and
taking care of our moms across the state. And we're
proud to in teenage to provide that tradition here at
Saint Mary's Hospital.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
You have a wonderful event that's coming up.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, we are excited. This is our second year of
putting on the Summit, the Black Men and White Coach
Youth's Summit here in Connecticut. We did it last year
around the same time November. It was the first time
in Connecticut at this summit was able to be run
and so we were truly excited to be the inaugural
(01:08):
help system to put this together. We're truly trying to expose, inspire,
and mentor our next generation of students to pursue a
career in healthcare.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
And is that why the event was created.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
So the background of Black Men and White Coach is
pretty remarkable. Back in two thousand and thirteen, there was
a report out of the American Association of Medical Colleges
that showed that there were fewer black men enrolled in
medical school at that point in time than in the
nineteen seventies, which led to doctor de Locour Dudu, who
(01:48):
is the founder of Black Men and White Coach. He's
a Dallas based physician, to create the organization. The goal
was to inspire again, mentorship and underrepresented minorities to to
to make sure that they are aware and educate them
(02:10):
on the process of getting into healthcare. And I think
he refers to it directly for black men and and
as as a title, because sometimes if you don't call
out black men specifically, he finds that they respond best
to that direct uh direct communication. But in general, the
(02:34):
goal here is to ensure that all underrepresented minorities are
aware of one the possibility of becoming a position, or
becoming or coming into healthcare as an opportunity for them.
But then also, and I think very importantly to educate
on barriers, particularly the financial or the academic ones, that
(02:56):
we strive to trully create an eduction hat on opportunities
to be able to overcome any barriers to to excel
and and uh and continue into the into the healthcare career.
The barriers for all students, particularly those who are looking
to pursue careers in healthcare, are formidable. Uh. The first
(03:19):
one is just getting good grades, so participating, excelling in school,
you know, studying hard, devoting devoting our our our days
to to truly getting to the books and hitting the
books hearts. I think that's that's a very important barrier
that you know, Uh, everyone who wants to go into healthcare,
(03:42):
we want to we want to make sure that you
spark that love of science, that love of mathematics, all
of which are important to pursue careers in healthcare. And
that's number one. And number two, you know, the the
financial burden of going to college is a reality for many,
(04:03):
and so part of this is to educate parents and
caregivers on how to navigate the financial challenges and overcome
those as so for the students, we want to inspire
and spark that excitement for the stem field, and then
(04:25):
for the parents and the caregivers, we're going to inspire
and spark the awareness of how to overcome the financial
barriers that are sometimes limiting in terms of, hey, this
is not going to be doable for us because we
just don't have the dollars and cents for it. And
there are ways to overcome both of those, but we
(04:47):
have to we have to educate people on this. So
black men applying and being part of the medical infrastructure,
particularly in medical school declined up until twenty thirteen where
we had this. You know, there were fewer black men
in medical school at that point in time than in
the nineteen seventies, and that's improved since then, but there
(05:11):
was clearly a divide and that was the real That
was the one main racial ethnicity and gender that had
this challenge because everyone else is pretty much even male, female,
but the black men having that reduction and I think
having and we've seen this in a number of studies,
having a physician or a healthcare provider who is who
(05:37):
is within your same culture, but also your saying gender
actually has a role in positive healthcare outcomes for patients
as well from a number of perspective.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Let's talk about the day. It's happening on November eighth.
It's from eight till two. Registration is at eight. Take
me through what will happen next after the registration.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, So the beauty about this event is we are
truly partnering with the community. So as the host here
at Saint Mary's Hospital, we recognize when we're trying to
bring in a thousand people, we need the right space.
So the first first order of business is that we've
partnered with the Palace Theater and Yukon Waterbury where the
(06:20):
event will actually be taking place on that day, November eighth,
So students command students caregivers. Last year, there was a
lineup outside of the Palace Theater like there was a
like Wicked was on or something like that, and the
students came in. They all registered, They all came into
the event, into the Palace Theater, some of them the
(06:40):
first time into the Palace Theater itself, which is a beautiful,
a beautiful place here in the city. We have. In
the morning, we had welcome address from a number of
community leaders from a number of state leaders this year.
We're excited for the people who are coming out to
give the address. From there, they break out the hands
(07:01):
on sessions the students, so we break them out into
smaller groups. There were about one thousand participants last year,
which is a great number. We both those down at
the small groups of eight to ten and then they
went over. The students went over to Yukon Water Burrea
where we had a series of hands on sessions, things
(07:22):
like CPR intubation where they get to put the tube
down a mannequin's throat. We had for the older students,
we had a suturing event where they actually got to
use a suture with a needle driver and got the
experiment on putting in you know, stitches into a training
into a training skin set up. For the younger kids,
(07:46):
we did stop the bleed. We had vital signs where
they get to check their blood pressure and check the
figure out their heart rate. So we had a number
of hands on sessions again to get them exposed to
what's going on and they rotate through each each activity,
and then we also had larger interactive sessions. We had
virtual reality medical simulation. We had a number of laparoscopic tools,
(08:12):
so surgical instruments where students were able to use them
to pick up different objects and move them around rings.
And then we had the Da Vinci robot, which is
a great experience where students are actually able to practice
on the robot that would be found in operating rooms
(08:32):
across Connecticut and see what it's like for what it's
like to be a surgeon. So those are the breakout sessions.
And then we had keynote speakers. Doctor Dale was here
last year to give the keynote address on being excellent,
and we had a panel session where we had both
black men and white coats but also black females and
white coats given their perspectives in a moderated sort of
(08:56):
fireside chat, which we're looking to replicate again today or
this this time around. We had food that was provided
completely free events, so that there was breakfast providers that
was blund provided and we were and we also had
which I thought was a lot of fun. We also
had small gifts for some of the kids. There was
an iPad that he gave away, speakers, headphones, and the
(09:18):
white so so some of the kids came away with
some really cool prizes. We had a book signing, and
and yeah, it was it was a it was a
great event from eight am registration all of about three
pm in the afternoon, but a lot of fun and
we had a lot of great feedback and a lot
of a lot of great encouragement to continue doing it
(09:39):
again for the sure.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
How did the parents and the children respond to all
of these things when it was over.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, so, you know, particularly the students being exposed and
having those hands on sessions. You know, there was one
there was one little girl who who remarked about cleaning
cleaning a wound, which has probably been the biggest advance
in modern medicine in a long time, with just the
simple littlest act of making sure that their wound is
(10:06):
clean and what needs to be done to do that.
So getting them that hands on exposure number one, but
number two, seeing you know, a thousand other students who
are around them at the same time, participating in such
a such an intimate setting, hearing, hearing their voices, hearing
(10:29):
their smiles, hearing their laughs. And then and then it's
you know, participating on some of these really cool things,
a virtual reality simulator where they're using their you know,
a headset and handsets that are found at home that
they're playing games on at home, but here we are
in the medical field using it to further education. The
(10:49):
kids loved it. My kids continue to remark about the
cool things that they did there as well. And then
for the parents, the great thing about the parents is
you were able to edge take them on aspects that
maybe they had a familiarity with, but we were able
to make connections with people who are already in that process.
We talked about mental health, we talked about a day
(11:10):
in the life of a resident and a medical student,
so that parents could understand, even from their perspective, sort
of what it's like and you know, and then of
course how well connected in creating mentorship opportunities for people
to move forward has led to some of our students
participating in some further volunteer and internship opportunities here at
(11:33):
the hospital and the Trinity Health New England. Again, I
think and even if they're participating outside of our system,
we're excited because they're inspired and they're going to be
the future of our healthcare providers, which is experiencing tremendous
shortage that we're anticipating coming so The more we're able
to get them into that pathway, the better it is
(11:54):
for all of us.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
And must feel so good to put your head on
the pillow at night after this event. Art just must
burst with joy after that day.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, you know, it's it's it isn't me. I gotta,
I gotta. I gotta admit our team here across Trinity
Health in New England and across Connecticut, even outside of
outside of here, We've got great partnership at the Palace Theater,
great partnership with Yukon and Moterbrary, great partnership with even
Yukon Health. You know their their partnership and participation as
(12:24):
well as collaboration to put on an event of this
size is tremendous. Seeing the smiles and and the cheers
that we get from the parents and the students is exciting.
It is a lot of work putting on an event
like this, and I know our teams, you know, rally
(12:45):
around that opportunity. But this is part of our mission.
We want to be that healing presence here in the community.
And and we're not just in it for the short term.
We're focused on the long term and this is one
of those opportunities that we have that hasn't been done
here in Connecticut is just again at that door that
(13:07):
we were able to walk through and bring this vision
to life. So we're excited and we're hoping to continue
this moving forward as well.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Well, you know, I hate driving through Waterberry in the
mix master because there's always traffic. I mean, I've been
doing it since I was sixteen years old. But there's
a billboard and it caught my eye. Black men and
white coats, and I was like, what is this? And
I was like, oh, I get to interview them. Because
the cost is free, do you need sponsors, donations or
(13:36):
volunteers to help keep this going?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
So one hundred percent the cost is free. We would
love if we had a sponsors that would be able
to come out and support this event. We've got actually
a number of different sponsorship levels. Our Medical Executive Committee
is presenting sponsor. We have already had a number of
(14:00):
community partners that have participated, and we're enthusiastic and thrilled,
but we could always use more. The more support we get,
the better program we're able to participate and present to
our students. So that's number one. Number two is volunteers
one hundred percent. We're looking to bring together thirteen hundred
(14:21):
students and more. We need volunteers. We need people to
move the crowds back and forth, but we also need mentors.
So if there are healthcare providers across the state who
want to participate as mentors, who you know, in a
mentor hangs out with a small group of students through
(14:42):
the entire day. They're sort of they're with them. They're
not the group leader. We need group leaders as well,
but they're there with them to share their experience, their story,
answer questions students may have, and then be another sort
of cheer leader as the students go through the different
activities throughout the day. We need volunteers to just handle
(15:04):
the crowd and move people through. So one hundred percent.
And then of course we need we need students. So
registration is open for kids grade three and upwards all
the way up to college that are excited or interested
or like, hey, this would be something something cool to
go take a peak at. We'd love to have them repeat, customers,
(15:27):
repeat students to want to come out again. We've got
some few things that we're excited about this year, so
we'd love to have them all for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Wonderful. I mean, this is such an amazing event. It's
only your second year and it's going to grow larger
and longer than you've ever imagined. I'm speaking with doctor
Hussin and Kermali. He is chief medical officer over at
Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury. The event is Black Men
and White Coats. It's a youth summit. It's taking place
November eighth, from eight till two but maybe three, and
(15:58):
it's over at the Beautiful Palace Theater in Waterbury. Again.
For all of the workshops and more information, just go
to Trinityhealthofne dot org and you could do forward slash
BMWC again. Sponsors, donations, volunteers, mentors, There's so much we
could use. Thank you so much for being here and
for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Thank you Alison for having us, and we look forward
to these summits continued growth. It truly is a game
changer and we'd love for the community support as we
move forward.
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Allison de Murz. My guest this morning is doctor huss
Named Carmali. He is chief medical officer at Saint Mary's
Hospital in Waterbury. Good morning, Good.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Morning, Alison. Very nice to talk with you this morning.
You too.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I was born and raised in Waterbury. Actually I was
born at Saint Mary's Hospital.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Such a small world. We've run into people all the
time across the state of Connecticut who have that collection,
and I think Saint Mary's, like any of our obstructric
team that's across the state, do a great job and
taking care of our moms across the state. And we're
proud to in teenage to provide that tradition here at
Saint Mary's Hospital.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
You have a wonderful event that's coming up.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, we are excited. This is our second year of
putting on the Summit, the Black Men and White Coach
Youth's Summit here in Connecticut. We did it last year
around the same time November. It was the first time
in Connecticut at this summit was able to be run
and so we were truly excited to be the inaugural
(01:08):
help system to put this together. We're truly trying to expose, inspire,
and mentor our next generation of students to pursue a
career in healthcare.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
And is that why the event was created.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
So the background of Black Men and White Coach is
pretty remarkable. Back in two thousand and thirteen, there was
a report out of the American Association of Medical Colleges
that showed that there were fewer black men enrolled in
medical school at that point in time than in the
nineteen seventies, which led to doctor de Locour Dudu, who
(01:48):
is the founder of Black Men and White Coach. He's
a Dallas based physician, to create the organization. The goal
was to inspire again, mentorship and underrepresented minorities to to
to make sure that they are aware and educate them
(02:10):
on the process of getting into healthcare. And I think
he refers to it directly for black men and and
as as a title, because sometimes if you don't call
out black men specifically, he finds that they respond best
to that direct uh direct communication. But in general, the
(02:34):
goal here is to ensure that all underrepresented minorities are
aware of one the possibility of becoming a position, or
becoming or coming into healthcare as an opportunity for them.
But then also, and I think very importantly to educate
on barriers, particularly the financial or the academic ones, that
(02:56):
we strive to trully create an eduction hat on opportunities
to be able to overcome any barriers to to excel
and and uh and continue into the into the healthcare career.
The barriers for all students, particularly those who are looking
to pursue careers in healthcare, are formidable. Uh. The first
(03:19):
one is just getting good grades, so participating, excelling in school,
you know, studying hard, devoting devoting our our our days
to to truly getting to the books and hitting the
books hearts. I think that's that's a very important barrier
that you know, Uh, everyone who wants to go into healthcare,
(03:42):
we want to we want to make sure that you
spark that love of science, that love of mathematics, all
of which are important to pursue careers in healthcare. And
that's number one. And number two, you know, the the
financial burden of going to college is a reality for many,
(04:03):
and so part of this is to educate parents and
caregivers on how to navigate the financial challenges and overcome
those as so for the students, we want to inspire
and spark that excitement for the stem field, and then
(04:25):
for the parents and the caregivers, we're going to inspire
and spark the awareness of how to overcome the financial
barriers that are sometimes limiting in terms of, hey, this
is not going to be doable for us because we
just don't have the dollars and cents for it. And
there are ways to overcome both of those, but we
(04:47):
have to we have to educate people on this. So
black men applying and being part of the medical infrastructure,
particularly in medical school declined up until twenty thirteen where
we had this. You know, there were fewer black men
in medical school at that point in time than in
the nineteen seventies, and that's improved since then, but there
(05:11):
was clearly a divide and that was the real That
was the one main racial ethnicity and gender that had
this challenge because everyone else is pretty much even male, female,
but the black men having that reduction and I think
having and we've seen this in a number of studies,
having a physician or a healthcare provider who is who
(05:37):
is within your same culture, but also your saying gender
actually has a role in positive healthcare outcomes for patients
as well from a number of perspective.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Let's talk about the day. It's happening on November eighth.
It's from eight till two. Registration is at eight. Take
me through what will happen next after the registration.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, So the beauty about this event is we are
truly partnering with the community. So as the host here
at Saint Mary's Hospital, we recognize when we're trying to
bring in a thousand people, we need the right space.
So the first first order of business is that we've
partnered with the Palace Theater and Yukon Waterbury where the
(06:20):
event will actually be taking place on that day, November eighth,
So students command students caregivers. Last year, there was a
lineup outside of the Palace Theater like there was a
like Wicked was on or something like that, and the
students came in. They all registered, They all came into
the event, into the Palace Theater, some of them the
(06:40):
first time into the Palace Theater itself, which is a beautiful,
a beautiful place here in the city. We have. In
the morning, we had welcome address from a number of
community leaders from a number of state leaders this year.
We're excited for the people who are coming out to
give the address. From there, they break out the hands
(07:01):
on sessions the students, so we break them out into
smaller groups. There were about one thousand participants last year,
which is a great number. We both those down at
the small groups of eight to ten and then they
went over. The students went over to Yukon Water Burrea
where we had a series of hands on sessions, things
(07:22):
like CPR intubation where they get to put the tube
down a mannequin's throat. We had for the older students,
we had a suturing event where they actually got to
use a suture with a needle driver and got the
experiment on putting in you know, stitches into a training
into a training skin set up. For the younger kids,
(07:46):
we did stop the bleed. We had vital signs where
they get to check their blood pressure and check the
figure out their heart rate. So we had a number
of hands on sessions again to get them exposed to
what's going on and they rotate through each each activity,
and then we also had larger interactive sessions. We had
virtual reality medical simulation. We had a number of laparoscopic tools,
(08:12):
so surgical instruments where students were able to use them
to pick up different objects and move them around rings.
And then we had the Da Vinci robot, which is
a great experience where students are actually able to practice
on the robot that would be found in operating rooms
(08:32):
across Connecticut and see what it's like for what it's
like to be a surgeon. So those are the breakout sessions.
And then we had keynote speakers. Doctor Dale was here
last year to give the keynote address on being excellent,
and we had a panel session where we had both
black men and white coats but also black females and
white coats given their perspectives in a moderated sort of
(08:56):
fireside chat, which we're looking to replicate again today or
this this time around. We had food that was provided
completely free events, so that there was breakfast providers that
was blund provided and we were and we also had
which I thought was a lot of fun. We also
had small gifts for some of the kids. There was
an iPad that he gave away, speakers, headphones, and the
(09:18):
white so so some of the kids came away with
some really cool prizes. We had a book signing, and
and yeah, it was it was a it was a
great event from eight am registration all of about three
pm in the afternoon, but a lot of fun and
we had a lot of great feedback and a lot
of a lot of great encouragement to continue doing it
(09:39):
again for the sure.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
How did the parents and the children respond to all
of these things when it was over.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah, so, you know, particularly the students being exposed and
having those hands on sessions. You know, there was one
there was one little girl who who remarked about cleaning
cleaning a wound, which has probably been the biggest advance
in modern medicine in a long time, with just the
simple littlest act of making sure that their wound is
(10:06):
clean and what needs to be done to do that.
So getting them that hands on exposure number one, but
number two, seeing you know, a thousand other students who
are around them at the same time, participating in such
a such an intimate setting, hearing, hearing their voices, hearing
(10:29):
their smiles, hearing their laughs. And then and then it's
you know, participating on some of these really cool things,
a virtual reality simulator where they're using their you know,
a headset and handsets that are found at home that
they're playing games on at home, but here we are
in the medical field using it to further education. The
(10:49):
kids loved it. My kids continue to remark about the
cool things that they did there as well. And then
for the parents, the great thing about the parents is
you were able to edge take them on aspects that
maybe they had a familiarity with, but we were able
to make connections with people who are already in that process.
We talked about mental health, we talked about a day
(11:10):
in the life of a resident and a medical student,
so that parents could understand, even from their perspective, sort
of what it's like and you know, and then of
course how well connected in creating mentorship opportunities for people
to move forward has led to some of our students
participating in some further volunteer and internship opportunities here at
(11:33):
the hospital and the Trinity Health New England. Again, I
think and even if they're participating outside of our system,
we're excited because they're inspired and they're going to be
the future of our healthcare providers, which is experiencing tremendous
shortage that we're anticipating coming so The more we're able
to get them into that pathway, the better it is
(11:54):
for all of us.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
And must feel so good to put your head on
the pillow at night after this event. Art just must
burst with joy after that day.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, you know, it's it's it isn't me. I gotta,
I gotta. I gotta admit our team here across Trinity
Health in New England and across Connecticut, even outside of
outside of here, We've got great partnership at the Palace Theater,
great partnership with Yukon and Moterbrary, great partnership with even
Yukon Health. You know their their partnership and participation as
(12:24):
well as collaboration to put on an event of this
size is tremendous. Seeing the smiles and and the cheers
that we get from the parents and the students is exciting.
It is a lot of work putting on an event
like this, and I know our teams, you know, rally
(12:45):
around that opportunity. But this is part of our mission.
We want to be that healing presence here in the community.
And and we're not just in it for the short term.
We're focused on the long term and this is one
of those opportunities that we have that hasn't been done
here in Connecticut is just again at that door that
(13:07):
we were able to walk through and bring this vision
to life. So we're excited and we're hoping to continue
this moving forward as well.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Well, you know, I hate driving through Waterberry in the
mix master because there's always traffic. I mean, I've been
doing it since I was sixteen years old. But there's
a billboard and it caught my eye. Black men and
white coats, and I was like, what is this? And
I was like, oh, I get to interview them. Because
the cost is free, do you need sponsors, donations or
(13:36):
volunteers to help keep this going?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
So one hundred percent the cost is free. We would
love if we had a sponsors that would be able
to come out and support this event. We've got actually
a number of different sponsorship levels. Our Medical Executive Committee
is presenting sponsor. We have already had a number of
(14:00):
community partners that have participated, and we're enthusiastic and thrilled,
but we could always use more. The more support we get,
the better program we're able to participate and present to
our students. So that's number one. Number two is volunteers
one hundred percent. We're looking to bring together thirteen hundred
(14:21):
students and more. We need volunteers. We need people to
move the crowds back and forth, but we also need mentors.
So if there are healthcare providers across the state who
want to participate as mentors, who you know, in a
mentor hangs out with a small group of students through
(14:42):
the entire day. They're sort of they're with them. They're
not the group leader. We need group leaders as well,
but they're there with them to share their experience, their story,
answer questions students may have, and then be another sort
of cheer leader as the students go through the different
activities throughout the day. We need volunteers to just handle
(15:04):
the crowd and move people through. So one hundred percent.
And then of course we need we need students. So
registration is open for kids grade three and upwards all
the way up to college that are excited or interested
or like, hey, this would be something something cool to
go take a peak at. We'd love to have them repeat, customers,
(15:27):
repeat students to want to come out again. We've got
some few things that we're excited about this year, so
we'd love to have them all for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Wonderful. I mean, this is such an amazing event. It's
only your second year and it's going to grow larger
and longer than you've ever imagined. I'm speaking with doctor
Hussin and Kermali. He is chief medical officer over at
Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury. The event is Black Men
and White Coats. It's a youth summit. It's taking place
November eighth, from eight till two but maybe three, and
(15:58):
it's over at the Beautiful Palace Theater in Waterbury. Again.
For all of the workshops and more information, just go
to Trinityhealthofne dot org and you could do forward slash
BMWC again. Sponsors, donations, volunteers, mentors, There's so much we
could use. Thank you so much for being here and
for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Thank you Alison for having us, and we look forward
to these summits continued growth. It truly is a game
changer and we'd love for the community support as we
move forward.
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