Barbara Justice

Barbara J. Justice-Muhammad[1] is a forensic and clinical psychiatrist[2] as well as a surgical oncologist. The first African-American woman to be trained in general surgery at Columbia University Medical Center. She has worked at Harlem Hospital, Abundant Life Clinic and at Memorial Sloane Kettering sites in New York. She is well known for her long-running New York radio show, Medical View and You,[3] and was honored in 1996 when Mayor David Dinkins proclaimed a citywide Barbara Justice Day for her contribution to the health of the community.

Biography

Justice received a BA form the City University of New York, and did Post BA/ Pre Med studies at both Columbia University and Connecticut College. Upon attaining her MD from Howard University College of Medicine in Washington DC in 1977,[2] she had an interest in pursuing both surgery and psychiatry, and intended to eventually practice both. While at Howard, she became pregnant with her son, Kamao Justice Douglas, but refused to quit school.[1]

Justice joined the Nation of Islam in 1994.[1] She states that she felt isolated until she received support from the Nation of Islam.[4]

Career

Justice felt that AIDS could be seen as a "white plot to exterminate blacks," and theorized that greater amounts of melanin in the black population "made them more vulnerable to AIDS."[5] In August 1990, Justice, along with Gary Byrd, visited Nairobi to learn more about experimental treatments for AIDS.[6] Justice, along with her colleagues, worked with the National Institutes of Health in 1992 to set up trials for oral interferons to treat AIDS.[7] In her treatment of AIDS, she advocated the use of oral interferons, such as Kemron, in order to treat AIDS.[8] According to Justice, 82% of the patients with AIDS who were treated with interferons at the Abundant Life clinic "experienced increased appetite and other improvement."[9] She also arranged for AIDS patients in New York to go to Nairobi in order to receive Kemron treatments.[10] Justice believed that other treatments, such as AZT, were actually poisons.[7] Despite the NIH's criticism of Kemron, Justice continued promoting it, feeling that there was a conspiracy against black research.[11] She also believed that the "white conservative medical profession" needed to deal with the fact that statistically, more black people were infected with AIDS worldwide than other groups.[4]

Justice was Stokely Carmichael's personal physician.[12] She treated him for a duodenal ulcer in 1988 and Carmichael called her a "kindred spirit."[13] Later, she diagnosed him with cancer.[14] Justice was the attending physician at Tupac Shakur’s first shooting.[15]

Honors and Awards

Lectures and Presentations

References

  1. 1 2 3 McKinney-Whetstone, Diane; Cain, Joy Duckett (December 1996). "Our Beauty Our Strength". Essence. 27 (8): 71. Retrieved 17 May 2016 via EBSCO. (subscription required (help)).
  2. 1 2 "Barbara J. Justice, MD, ABPN, ABFP". Elite American Physicians. 10 January 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  3. English, Merle (Feb 7, 1990). "BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOODS". Newsday. p. 21. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  4. 1 2 Fiske, John; Hancock, Black Hawk (2016). Media Matters: Race & Gender in the U.S. Politics (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781317498520.
  5. Jones, James H. (1993). Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment (New and expanded ed.). New York: The Free Press. p. 235. ISBN 9780029166765.
  6. "Racism Charged as AIDS Drug is Challenged". Santa Cruz Sentinel. 2 September 1990. Retrieved 18 May 2016 via Newspapers.com.
  7. 1 2 Wittes, Benjamin (29 October 2007). "Miracle Worker?". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  8. "The Angry Politics of Kemron". Newsweek. 3 January 1993. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  9. "AIDS Work at a Nation of Islam Clinic Is Questioned". The New York Times. 4 March 1994. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  10. "The History Of Kemron Clinical Trials". Washington Informer. 14 May 1997. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  11. Nattrass, Niccoli (2012). The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back. Columbia University Press. p. 59. ISBN 9780231520256.
  12. "Newsmakers". Aiken Standard. 1 March 1996. Retrieved 17 May 2016 via Newspaper Archive.
  13. Carmichael, Stokely; Thewlwell, Ekwueme Michael (2003). Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture). New York: Scribner. p. 736. ISBN 9780684850030.
  14. Rice, John (26 May 1996). "Pan-African Crusader Still Ready for Revolution". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  15. "Wounded Rap Artist Avoids Jail, for Now". The New York Times. 15 December 1994. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  16. "APA Minority Fellows Program Participants Announced". Psychiatric News. 20 September 2002. Retrieved 20 May 2016.

External links

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