CLEVELAND — Dr. Gregory Hall splits time between treating patients and teaching medical students at Cleveland State University, where he serves as co-director of Neo Med Partnership for Urban Health.
“Most of the research is done on the majority populations,” said Hall. “I have an 80 to 90% African American population.”
Hall recently authored "Patient-Centered Clinical Care for African Americans." The book is not a cure-all, but a tool to help his colleagues help people.
“It wasn’t easy to get that book published. Quiet as it’s kept, with over 40 million African Americans in the country you’d think,” said Hall. “There’s a sort of a gap between researchers at a university level and physicians that are in a community, actually seeing patients.”
Hall breaks down concerns that could be the difference between folks living and living longer.
“For colon cancer screening, screening starts at age 50, but for African Americans starts at age 45,” said Hall. “Chemotherapy medications for breast cancer work better in white women than they do for African American women. It’s still surprising to me that I had to be the first person to do it, quite frankly."
Now, his patients are passing along doses of awareness.
“An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure,” said Samuel D. Craig III.
Hall says this version of his book was written for providers, but he is considering making a version for patients.
