When AAFP President Tochi Iroku-Malize, MD, MPH, MBA, FAAFP, was a little girl, she told her school counselor she wanted to be a medical doctor when she grew up. The counselor told her if she worked very hard, she could grow up to be a secretary in a doctor’s office. Crushed, she went home to share her disappointment with her mother. Her mother quickly reassured her she could be anything she wanted to be, whether that was a doctor or president of the United States.

Iroku-Malize opens her inspiring documentary, "Black Female Physician Leaders” with this story. Her goal: Tell the stories of women making history—in their own words. 

The documentary delves into the experiences of Black family physicians in leadership, documenting what brought them to medicine. The film also looks at issues that affect Black female physicians, including racism, moving into leadership, and the mentors who encouraged them.

“It is very difficult to be a Black woman,” says Margot Savoy, MD, MPH, FAAFP, in the documentary. “It’s a blessing. It’s a curse. It’s everything in between. Sometimes the things that make us the most special and the most unique and the most qualified and the most suited for the thing we want to do, whatever the passion is that’s burning inside of us, is the exact thing that people are going to attack you for and that they’re going to challenge you on. They’re going to make you question your own ability, question yourself. If I only had one thing for other people to take away—because it took me way too long in life to figure out—[it’s that] you’re not here for them.”

Representing women from multiple generations and different stages of their careers, the film features women who use grit and determination to climb to the top of their field and take on leadership roles in the medical community.

From their experiences in school, residency, and practice, these physicians give harrowing examples of racism that include being intentionally misidentified as a nurse, blatant threats to their grades during residency, and being the “invisible” person in the room.

“In this profession, we are underrepresented,” Javette C. Orgain, MD, MPH, FAAFP, RP, says in the documentary. “My career has been such that I’ve often been the only [Black] person in the room. And our voice is therefore not heard. Again, we’re invisible. I can say one thing, and the person next to me will say the exact same thing, and they will be given credit for the idea. That happens on a regular basis. We’re constantly working to break that glass ceiling. And I’ve been fortunate to be able to do that.”

The film’s key message to young Black women? You are seen, you are capable, be the best you can be.

You can support the important work of expanding diversity for the future of family medicine through the Dr. Tochi Iroku-Malize URM Fund. It will help fund scholars selected for the Family Medicine Leads Emerging Leader Institute and Family Medicine Leads scholarships.