Joseph Ravenell: Could Barbershops Become The New Doctor's Office?

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Rethinking Medicine.

About Joseph Ravenell's TED Talk

Many black men trust their barber more than their primary care doctor, if they even have one. Physician Joseph Ravenell wants to turn barbershops into a place where men can access basic health care.

About Atul Gawande

Joseph Ravenell is an internist at NYU Langone Health. He also works with New York University's Men's Health Initiative, to study and implement community-based strategies to diagnose and treat hypertension and colorectal cancer.

These potentially deadly diseases are preventable and disproportionately affect African-American men. Ravenell hopes to change this by offering blood pressure readings and cancer screenings at barbershops and health education at churches and mosques.

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