While African Americans across the nation navigate historic health disparities — from a lack of access to care to food insecurity and higher disease and mortality rates — for five decades, the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) has been working to combat those challenges, promote wellness and change statistics among doctors and patients alike.
ABC gathered in Washington, D.C., Oct. 9-11 for a convening that included: a maternal cardiovascular health roundtable; a policy summit; an educational retreat for pre-college and undergraduate students; and a 50th anniversary celebratory gala. The goal of the three-day conference was not only to hold meetings and mark the milestone celebration, but also to fight for health equity overall.
“One of the things that ABC does is certainly advocate for our patients in terms of the need for evidence-based cardiovascular care,” Dr. Anthony Fletcher told The Informer. “We also work on educating our patients and our communities about the presence of cardiovascular disease – the signs, the symptoms, the need for prevention, the need for early detection, and treatment.”
The U.S. Department Office of Minority Health reports that in 2024, Black people were diagnosed with hypertension 26% more than the total population, and in 2022, African Americans died from heart disease more than any other racial or ethnic group.
Although heart health is major for ABC, working to uplift African Americans in every aspect of the medical field is what the organization is all about.
“We also advocate that African American patients are looked at in terms of being included in the clinical trials. I mean, that’s how we develop the new aspects of medicine and how we determine if these aspects of care are effective in populations,” he said. “We also advocate for more people of color to be researchers, to help us pursue the questions that are germane to our patient population.”
Further, supporting the next generation of Black cardiologists through scholarship and programming is critical to the association’s work and mission.
“Part of our goal also is to work on diversification of the workforce, so we certainly include advocating for students,” Fletcher explained.
Since its inception 50 years ago, the members of ABC have worked to bolster Black communities, and remind all people of the importance of prioritizing heart health.
“I think most of us are dedicated to the fact that we want to be sure, that people that we care about, people that look like us, our family members, have access to evidence-based cardiovascular care like anyone else,” he said. [And] it’s just not about Black people. It’s about anybody that’s underserved or marginalized.”
Honoring the Past, Celebrating Progress, Pushing for More Equity
Fifty years ago, African Americans accounted for about 2.2% of doctors in the United States, yet Williams and other physicians saw a void in health care and started the Association of Black Cardiologists to fill it.
“I would applaud the 18 people who started this organization, and they weren’t all of the Black cardiologists in existence at that time, but certainly they represented the core of those,” Fletcher explained.
In a 2022 interview with Reservoir Communications Group, Williams, also founder and president of the Minority Health Institute, recounted his inspiration for starting ABC.
“In the late ‘60s, there was not much information underscoring the prominence of heart disease among African Americans. The thought at that time was that African Americans were resistant against diseases of the cardiovascular system. We didn’t have any data to show otherwise,” said Williams, author of The Textbook of Black-Related Diseases (1975). “I was able to accumulate a great deal of data on heart disease and found that the idea of Black populations being somehow immune was absolutely erroneous.”
He celebrated the progress made over the past five decades.
“Look how far we’ve come,” Williams, now 89, said three years ago in an interview as part of Reservoir Advocacy and Alliance Network’s series “The Deep Dive.” “We’ve found out that Black people are twice as likely to suffer from heart attacks, and therefore, we deserve and need a great, maybe even greater, deal of attention on this problem.”
As part of the 50th anniversary celebration, the association’s current leadership offered a call to action for all attendees, while also uplifting the work and legacy of its original members.
“This milestone represents more than a celebration—it is a reaffirmation of our mission and the enduring importance of advancing cardiovascular health in every community,” said Fletcher, Cassandra McCullough, CEO of the association, and Dr. Paul Underwood, ABC board chair, in a joint statement submitted to The Informer. “Together, we are proud to honor the visionaries who built our foundation and to inspire the next generation carrying this mission forward.”
Celebrating the initial ABC members as barrier-breakers, the organization’s president also noted that many Black cardiologists are paving paths for others to this day.
“Many of us were pioneers, in terms of going through programs, many of us are the first or second people of color in a lot of their programs,” he noted, “and so I think to some degree, you have to have a certain amount of audacity as well as bravery to do that.”
Despite a slight increase in Black physicians since the founding of ABC, which is now closer to about 5.7% of American doctors, Fletcher said there’s still more steps necessary to achieve true health equity for practitioners and patients.
“Unfortunately, Black cardiologists are probably only still about 3% of the practicing cardiologists in this country, which is still far below the fact that we represent about 13% to 15% of the population,” Fletcher told The Informer. “And so we still have a long way to go, and there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Through programming and discussions, this year’s conference allowed physicians to discuss ways to continue the work Williams and the original members started ABC 50 years ago.
Gloria Wilson Shelton, chair of the 50th anniversary celebration, said the purpose of this year’s convening was to offer “three unforgettable days of inspiration, connection and reflection.”
As the Association of Black Cardiologists celebrates a half-century and looks forward to the future, Fletcher encourages tackling disparities to promote overall wellness for African Americans.
“The main goal is to close the gap,” he said. “And so despite the fact that there has been some improvement, that gap is still there, so that’s still our major focus to be sure that people of color have a long lifespan, and… that they have the same quality of life for that lifespan.”
