Inside The Health Justice Fight - Why This Black Dermatologist Became an Attorney | S5 EP. 131

Y’all… this episode right here? Whew.Buckle up.Today I’m sitting down with Dr. Natalie Moulton-Levy - a 20-year board-certified dermatologist who looked medical racism dead in the face during COVID… and decided the ONLY way forward was to go back to school and become an attorney.Yes. You heard that right.Doctor. AND freshly barred lawyer.Because if there's one thing Black women are gonna do… it's whatever it takes to protect our people.In this conversation, we get into:- What she witnessed during COVID that shook her to her core- The moment she realized “helping one patient at a time” wasn’t enough- Why she built the Health Justice Initiative (HJI)- The REAL legal barriers that keep Black and low-income patients from receiving equal care- Imposter syndrome, ageism, and what it’s like to go back to school at mid-career- How she balances medicine, law, motherhood, AND community activism- What it truly takes to do purpose-driven, justice-centered work without burning out If you’ve ever wondered:“Is staying in medicine helping… or am I just upholding the system?”Or if you’ve thought about changing careers, expanding your impact, or doing something “unconventional” in your physician journey…THIS is the episode you need.And listen, Dr. Moulton-Levy didn’t go to law school to flex.She went because Black and brown patients are still being denied care, denied coverage, and denied dignity.And somebody had to step up.This is what it looks like to let purpose be louder than fear.About Dr. Moulton-Levy:Dr. Moulton-Levy is a board-certified physician with almost 20 years of experience and a newly-barred attorney. Throughout her practice, Dr. Moulton-Levy has experienced inequities in medicine first hand, and patients seek her out specifically because they have faced discrimination elsewhere. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she volunteered at a hospital caring for COVID patients, which shed new light on the realities of medical inequality and medical racism as low-income Black and Brown patients were denied access to ventilators–their lives valued less than others. While her medical practice has allowed her to engage in problems of inequity on an individual-patient basis, she witnessed how medical and legal barriers intertwine to systemically deny care to certain groups of people. In 2021, she reached a point in her career when she decided to go to law school to address these issues on a more systemic scale. Because of the structural dimension of medical inequity, a law degree enables her to take an intersectional approach to addressing the legal aspects of the healthcare system in the United States to better advocate for those whose voices are not being heard. Creating HJI is her way of fighting for the New York she believes in, where everyone’s life holds equal value and everyone receives the physical, mental, and gender-affirming healthcare they deserve. Follow Dr. Moulton-Levy’s work:Instagram: @integrativedermnycWebsite: www.integrativedermnyc.orgI cannot wait for y’all to hear this one.Let it pour into you. Let it challenge you. Let it MOVE you.#BlackDoctors #TheBlkDoctor #MedicalRacism #DoctorToLawyer #PhysicianStories #DoctorPodcast #HealthcareEquity #BlackWomenInMedicine #COVIDStories #CareerPivot #Dermatology #HealthAdvocacy #DoctorCoach #PhysicianCoach