medical system. why? why is it important to have more black doctors? >> african americans make up about 13% of the population, but about 4% of physicians. it's like mental health and psychiatry is the same. really low numbers. you often see this issue of the patients don't trust the health care system because there has been a bad history of things that have happened in the past. often as a black doctor, i'm there to be translator in a way. >> so that's why we need more black doctors. at the same time, i saw recently the association of american medical colleges, a new report that applications from african american men have declined. >> yes. >> brown: from 1978 to recently. why? >> the numbers for black women have incruised, but i think there's the society from top down limits what black men can be. it starts at the top and filters into the community. the idea of being a doctor was

he didn't engage with me at all. once he realized i'm a doctor. it's a totally different experience. it illustrates how differently things can play out in the exam room. >> brown: you became a psychiatrist. why? >> i never thought i would become a psychiatrist, but as i got toward the end of medical school, i took one location on a fly, and i enjoyed it. the patients told my supervisors that i had a way of relaxing people and getting them to talk to me. i had a way of connecting with people. so that really made me think about psychiatry. there is this huge issue as an african american. the mental health community is really a big deal because often black people will be resistant to mental health care or feel like it's something that's not for them. there is a huge stigma that we deal, with so as a psychiatrist, i'm one of the few black psychiatrist. so there's a huge deal there, as well. >> brown: this is something important you've written a lot about, the dearth of the black doctors...