News
Black female doctors speak of challenging road to success
Dr. Tonia Farmer, an ear nose and throat surgeon at Lippy Group in Warren, knew she wanted to be a doctor at the age of 7 when her twin sister Sonia died of bone cancer.
Friday, February 11th 2022, 6:23 PM EST
Updated:

WARREN, Ohio -
Becoming a physician is not an easy task and not necessarily the same for everyone.
Dr. Tonia Farmer, an ear nose and throat surgeon at Lippy Group in Warren, knew she wanted to be a doctor at the age of 7 when her twin sister Sonia died of bone cancer.
Dr. Farmer tells 21 News she faced many obstacles pursuing her career, more so for being Black, than for being female.
"Getting passed the challenge of patients saying to me i don't wanna see you becuase you're black, or being called racial names or being told that my hair style was not professional enough to be a doctor," said Dr. Farmer.
"There's so many different obstacles that we can come upon that might say you know what forget this, but I knew what I wanted to do," she said.
Our very own local infectious disease physician Dr. Dee Banks was one of three black women in a class of 110, jumping over hurdles like taking a backseat to her male counterparts.
"We had to take a lot of things from our male colleauges," said Dr. Banks. "But I always vowed that when I got into a position of leadership that I would speak up for myself and I think anybody that knows me knows that I do that," she said.
"I remember going into a room, it was an elderly white woman and her son and I'm speaking to them and the son would not address me at all. He would only address my white junior male resident," Dr. Farmer said addressing some of the racism she's faced in the field.
"It doesn't matter your status or how high you reach, I still walk with Black skin every single day and that's how I'm judged," she said.
Even through all the obstacles, both women persevered and broke barriers to become the successful doctors of our Valley today.
"Being here at the Lippy group, I've been here for 20 years at this practice and now I co-own this practice with my partner and co-own our surgery center and it's different when you're in charge," Dr. Farmer said.
"I want little girls, little Black and brown girls to look at me and know that you can be what you wanna be," said Dr. Banks.
Banks also says there needs to be more Black physicians in America and they need to start the pipeline to medical school early, like Kindergarten, instead of a pipeline to prison.