After greater than 30 years of apply and analysis in New York, Dr. Moro O. Salifu, professor and chair of the Division of Drugs at SUNY Downstate, will likely be appointed as Governor-elect Designee of the American School of Physicians (ACP) for the Brooklyn/Queens and Staten Island chapter of the ACP. Salifu replaces Todd Simon and would be the solely Black governor on the New York board.
Born in Bolgatanga, Ghana, Salifu knew early that he wished to be a physician, due to seeing the problems of not having sufficient docs for sufferers. “I obtained to see firsthand how individuals in my hometown had been battling small, little illnesses, and there was simply barely [any] assist. There was one large hospital, nevertheless it was principally understaffed,” Salifu mentioned.
After graduating from the Lawra Secondary College in Ghana and later spending six years finding out medication on the Dokuz Eylul College in Turkey, Salifu got here to New York in 1994 and have become an inside medication and nephrology specialist by way of a fellowship with SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn. Whereas working within the U.S, he noticed that the problem of not sufficient docs was nonetheless evident.
“It’s the identical factor the world over. I got here to America pondering that America has all of the docs, however we nonetheless don’t have sufficient,” Salifu mentioned.
He later grew to become chief of nephrology and director of the Transplant Program in 2008.
Salifu has remained all in favour of well being disparities in New York, and joined the ACP in 2000, finally changing into a counselor for the group in Brooklyn. He later served as director of the Brooklyn Well being Disparities Middle for 14 years, working to mitigate the circumstances Black sufferers face, together with hypertension, diabetes, kidney illness, stroke, and so on., earlier than being named a Grasp of ACP in 2018. The middle has been in a position to safe funding from the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) for growth packages to coach college students from highschool to graduate degree. He additionally serves as chair of the chapter’s DEI taskforce.
All through his profession, Salifu has remained near the Brooklyn group, talking about well being inequities at church buildings and different group facilities and offering sources.
A fundamental space of focus Salifu may have on the ACP board will likely be growing the variety of major care suppliers in lower-income communities throughout the area and growing racial concordance, that means extra Black physicians and first care suppliers specifically for Black sufferers. Within the U.S., the variety of Black healthcare suppliers is a low of round 5% each nationally and on the New York state degree.
In accordance with Salifu, a lot of this effort would require lobbying the federal government to extend Medicare’s cap on new docs from inside medication residency packages at a given hospital. He mentioned he’ll closely promote the initiative as soon as he’s on the board.
Pushing for larger compensation for major care suppliers is the opposite initiative Salifu will drive. He mentioned many medical faculty graduates select to enter a specialization as a substitute of major care due to pay variations.
In response to present assaults on DEI, Salifu mentioned potential cuts to funding of these packages can be a “large mistake.” Nevertheless, he’s hopeful that when the temperature cools down across the present anti-DEI rhetoric, he’ll be capable of acquire funding from NIH for initiatives in closing the hole in well being fairness.
“The work that we’re doing has to do with growing the variety of underrepresented minority of us into the well being professions. That’s wholesome for the US. Are you able to think about not having sufficient Black docs in the US? What does it imply for the US financial system?” Salifu mentioned.
“If you happen to by no means had somebody from your loved ones who was a physician, how would you need to be a physician? Our packages are exposing these younger children to those professions, after which we really get increasingly more of these children really expressing curiosity, which is an effective factor for America. It’s not a disputable factor.”
Earlier this week, the Trump administration carried out a freeze on the Presidents’ Emergency Plan for AIDS Reduction (PEPFAR) program, which offers anti-HIV and AIDS medication and funding for African nations, which might result in potential important hurt and virus unfold.
“This cash is peanuts from the context of America to assist a poor nation deal with a specific illness and be wholesome. I believe, from a humanistic perspective, that is so vital to do,” Salifu mentioned. “I hope that that is momentary and that it’s going to come again, but when it doesn’t come again, that is horrible, and it’s going to have an effect on quite a lot of lives and individuals are going to, sooner or later, see that they made a horrible mistake.”
In his profession, Salifu has acquired numerous awards, together with the 2022 Laureate Award for excellence in medical care, group service, training, and analysis by way of his work within the ACP chapter and at SUNY Downstate.
Salifu will start his time period as ACP governor-elect designee on April 5, 2025, earlier than assuming his four-year time period on April 16, 2026. He’s proud that ACP acknowledged his work, and for now could be trying ahead to celebrating his new appointment together with his spouse of 39 years and three sons.
