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This oral history interview was conducted with Joanne A. P. Wilson on May 24, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry as part of the Women in Duke Medicine Oral History Exhibit.

Duration: 02:03:39

Dr. Joanne A. P. Wilson discusses the importance of recognizing history; her own background; parochial school; being an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; medical school at Duke; house staff training at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital; being a woman and minority in some of these situations; her faculty position at the University of Michigan; the new maternity leave policy at Michigan; the lack of adjustment on the tenure clock for faculty having children at Michigan; her return to Duke in 1986; being among the first wave of African-Americans to graduate from Duke Medical School; working a summer program at Duke in the 1970s to help disadvantaged students become interested in medicine; the lack of North Carolinians at Duke; her community service work during medical school; her medical school class's interest in community service work and in activism; her own children's community service work; her current community service work; the spirit of activism on campus (during her medical school years) as opposed to an earlier spirit of unrest; her treatment as an African-American as a medical student; the importance of expecting excellence of young people; assumptions made when people do see African-American role models in medicine; attracting attention as one of the few African-American medical students; the increase in the number of African-American medical students upon her return to the faculty in 1986; the slow nature of medicine to change due to length of schooling; Dr. Grace Kerby; being the second female in the department to be appointed a full professor, after Grace Kerby; Dr. Charles Johnson, early African-American faculty member; her field of gastroenterology; the few numbers of women in the specialty when she began; changes in this trend; common conditions in gastroenterology; patients who stand out in her mind; her enjoyment of the field; seeing patients over time; her husband staying at the VA Hospital over time; balancing family life; the importance of working towards this balance; creative ways she and her family have achieved this balance; her children's activities and accomplishments; managing over commitment; the importance of being an example to young people; her daughter finding some of the difficulties of volunteerism in complicated situations; her research in the past; her lack of time currently to do research; clinical research studies; her strong science background being a help in clinical research studies; the importance of understanding the clinical significance of statistical findings; the enjoyment of, but less time to do, teaching at Duke; being awarded the Trailblazers Award from the Student National Medical Association; her impact on the medical center; the desire that anyone can have access to medical education; her efforts to stress the importance of nondiscrimination; medical school dean Sanders Williams's actions to get more women and minority medical students at Duke; the importance of reaching children early; the importance of algebra; other women at Duke; the importance of receiving mentorship from other places if you don't see people who look like you around you; her inspiration coming from female family members; the male doctors who helped her; and the project for which the Duke Medicine Archives is interviewing her. The transcription of this interview was made possible by a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation. Includes 2 master CDs, 2 use CDs, and 1 transcript.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Joanne A. P. Wilson on March 2, 2024 by Ava Meigs as part of the Bass Connections Agents of Change Oral History Project.

Duration: 01:33:33 (stereo)

Duration: 01:33:24 (mono)

During the interview, Wilson discusses growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina, educational experiences through high school, and her early interest in medicine; her undergraduate experience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) including the community care center, the college application process, financing college, preparation for the rigors of UNC-CH, the residential and academic struggles faced by classmates at UNC-CH, activism on campus, and being a chemistry major; the medical school application process; the dearth of women and African American students at the Duke School of Medicine and racial disparities in care at Duke; volunteering at the YMCA; Wilson's experience with Dr. Sadye Curry at Duke; how Wilson was treated by her classmates, racial discrimination and prejudice from patients and medical staff, mentors in the School of Medicine, and the continuance of de facto racial segregation in Duke medicine; Wilson's mixed emotions about a special achievement certificate she received while in medical school; research on disparity between comments and grades given to students of color; experiences of other Black medical students; Wilson's activist efforts at Duke, donating funds and volunteering at the Edgemont Clinic in Durham, North Carolina, as well their Edgemont's role in expanding access to care in Durham; Wilson's path to gastroenterology and her experiences in her senior residency and GI fellowship; Wilson's faculty position at Michigan and her return to Duke; advocating for increased recognition of maternity leave and the pushback against aforementioned advocacy efforts, as well as the lack of paternity leave for Wilson's husband during the births of their children; lack of movement forward in equitable distribution of care in time away from Duke; Wilson's advocacy during professional career; colon cancer screening; her service on university committees and balancing activism with work, family, and friends; mentorship of students of color; Wilson's emphasis on education and access in making health care more equitable and implementing adopted plans on the path to equity at Duke; and speaking to community groups about colon cancer screenings and preventive care

Digital files include interview metadata and transcript (DOCX), interview with stereo (WAV), interview with mono (MP3), consent form (PDF), an image (JPG), and TXT files.