Brandi Jones, D.O. Ob/Gyn featured on Self.com HOW THIS OB/GYN IS UPLIFTING COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

The medical field has a long way to go when it comes to race, despite what Grey’s Anatomy would have you believe. (Bless you, Shonda, for your unwavering commitment to diversity.) In fact, black people account for only 5.7 percent of medical school graduates in the United States’, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges's most recent available data. While women make up the majority of that figure, estimates pin the number of black, female doctors currently working in America at only 2 percent.

If you’re talking about health problems, on the other hand, black women often, unfortunately, lead the way. As a group, black women land at the top of the “at-risk” lists for obesity, breast and cervical cancer mortality rates, premature delivery, new diagnoses of sexually transmitted diseases like chlamydia and gonorrhea, and more.

This is due to a variety of factors, namely a lack of early access to medical care, socioeconomic disparities, and the fact that some diseases, like breast and cervical cancer, can simply be more aggressive in black people.