On this sad day of General Colin Powell’s death, I reflect on his contributions to science and advocacy, and how they affected me, personally.
During my second year of medical school in Cuba, I and 18 other U.S. classmates were suddenly faced with jail time. Not because we had committed a crime but because we accepted scholarships to train in a country which had no formal relationship with the United States.
International medical graduates in the United States make up 25% of the physician task force and represent all countries of the world, even those that have been sanctioned by the United States. So, as a young undergraduate studying pre-medicine at UCLA, when I earned a full scholarship to train under a universal healthcare system in Havana, I jumped at the challenge. I was in my 20s, and if you had told me that it would take the leverage of a four-star general to grant me permission to complete my medical training in Cuba, I would have thought it was a bad joke.
At the time that I accepted the scholarship, I would be going to Cuba under the “fully hosted clause” and this meant I could return to the United States and practice medicine once I graduated. Yet, in 2004, under the George W. Bush administration, I and my U.S. classmates were suddenly told to leave the island immediately and threatened with jail time if we did not comply. It was an unprecedented action, and our professional futures hung in the balance. As you can imagine, it was difficult to concentrate on our studies with the threat of Guantanamo internment over our heads. But our group of primarily black and brown medical students refused to leave or be silenced for our goodwill.
Most people have never heard about this story because of the heroic gesture of General Colin Powell by way of an urgent memo sent on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus and our loved ones who supported us. He took up our cause and advocated on our behalf to stay in Cuba and complete our medical training and licensure. General Powell changed the course of history for this small group of medical students, as I am now a Board-Certified Family Medicine Physician. My other U.S.-Cuba alumni are also currently practicing medicine in the United States. Certainly, General Powell could never have predicted the urgent need for health care professionals that we see today, but because of him, the United States has 208 more doctors in the fight against the very illness that killed him and so many others.
I regret that I was never able to thank him personally, and I hold the letter with his signature very dear to me. I truly thank him for his service to humanity and to this once young pre-med student. Because of General Powell, I was able to become a doctor in one nation at odds with the other, and we still found peace.
Dr.Sarpoma Sefa-Boakye MD is a Family Medicine Physician in San Diego California and is also the Medical Director of the Birthing Project USA and is the CEO of Veteran Medical Group Inc.
