1099 OPENING DOORS AND DIVERSIFYING THE UROLOGIC WORKFORCE: R. FRANK JONES MD, A PIONEER IN THE TRAINING OF AFRICAN UROLOGIC SURGEONS IN NORTH AMERICA
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES
“We have no hope of solving our problems without harnessing the diversity, the energy and the creativity of all our people” - Roger Wilkins, JD. In the post Civil War era organized healthcare for African-Americans began to expand with the establishment of Provident Hospital and Training School in Chicago in 1891. Two prominent colleges of Medicine (Howard and Meharry), provided formal medical education for African-Americans pursuing careers in medicine. Dr. Richard Francis Jones became the first African-American Diplomate of the American Board of Urology.
METHODS
Research material was obtained from an article published in the Journal of the National Medical Association May 1972.
RESULTS
Born in 1897, Dr. Jones' practiced medicine for over 47 years. In 1916, while in college, he had an inguinal hernia repaired under local anesthesia and when on the table was asked to submit to the same operation on the other side. It was this experience and the recovery time he spent on the surgical ward that attracted him to the field of surgery. Early in his career Dr. Jones' worked in both the division of urology and gynecology. In 1930 he began to limit his practice to the field of urology and in 1936, Dr. Jones' became the 6th African-American physician in the United States to become a board certified specialist. As the chief of urology, at Freedmen's Hospital, Dr. Jones' was promoted to full professor in 1945. Dr. Jones' published 25 articles and in 1955 published his surgical experience with management of transcapsular rupture of the kidney in the Journal of Urology. He was one of the earliest American urologist to champion the one-stage suprapubic prostatectomy, rather than the conventional two-stage approach. He was most proud of his role in training future urologists. Over the course of his career, he trained 26 urologic surgeons and in 1962 was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as a member of the National Advisory Committee to Selective Service for Physicians. Current R. Frank Jones Urologic Society (RFJUS) members have benefited from the pioneering accomplishments of Dr. Jones'. 45% percent of RFJUS members are in academic medicine, 65% have completed fellowship training, and 50% report that other African-American residents were present while they received their urologic training.
CONCLUSIONS
Dr. R Frank Jones' accomplishments in the field of urology, have opened many doors and lead to increased diversity in the urologic workforce. “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
