“I did not want to be a doctor,” Adolescent Medicine Specialist and Sexual Health Educator Natasha Ramsey recalled. “I thought I was going to be a writer.”
Before finding her calling in medicine, Ramsey found passion in other ways. As someone who was very art-savvy and creative, she particularly loved to draw, paint and journal, where she would detail her experiences throughout the day.
Coincidentally, this passion for writing started Ramsey onto the path of becoming a doctor. In high school, someone had heard of her writing interest and directed her to a teen sexual health magazine called Sex, Etc. Ramsey ultimately joined as a writer and editor who created articles, artwork and videos.
“It introduced me to the world of public health, advocacy, policy, all those things,” Ramsey recalled. “And so I knew in college that I was going to major in public health.”
Pursuing Public Health
In high school, Ramsey also participated in an SAT preparatory course based out of Rutgers University in New Jersey, the institution where she ultimately attended during her undergraduate years. She attributed a major reason why she pursued medicine to the director of the preparatory program, Rutgers University Director of Office for Diversity and Academic Success in the Sciences (ODASIS) Kamal Khan, who assured her that he would support her in her journey at the university.
“Dr. Khan was like, ‘God spoke to me, and he said, you’re gonna be a doctor,’” Ramsey added.
Ramsey majored in public health at Rutgers. She was also involved in ODASIS, a science preparatory course that oversaw her high school SAT preparatory course.
Any of Ramsey’s doubts toward a career in medicine began to diminish as things began to fall into place — she noticed she was doing well in her classes, especially her science courses, and was maintaining a strong GPA.
“I started thinking about what is the life that I actually want for myself when I’m done [with college], right?” Ramsey said. “What is it that I actually want to do? And I knew that I wanted to be a leader in the field.”
Although she was able to see herself as a doctor, Ramsey still wanted a balance between the two worlds of public health and medicine: specifically, understanding the individual factors of a patient’s life and how they affected their health and wellness.
“For me, I care about populations, I care about communities, I care about the social determinants that affects people’s health,” Ramsey added.
Medical school, residency and fellowship
When applying to medical schools, Ramsey was very intentional with the programs she applied to. She knew she still wanted to pursue public health, compelling her to apply to schools that offered a dual MD and MPH program.
“You have to remember — they are interviewing you, but you’re also interviewing them,” Ramsey said. “You need to find a place that you’re going to feel like you can thrive and do the things that you want to do.”
Ramsey ultimately chose New York University (NYU) Medical School, realizing that the reasonable financial aid packages, among many other factors, made it a perfect fit for her. However, because she had several acceptances from other medical schools, Ramsey was able to further negotiate her aid with NYU.
When Ramsey attended medical school, she noted the changes from her experience in her undergraduate years. A large change she noticed in medical school was the fact that she was exposed to “a million things at once,” and part of her role as a student was to sort through the multitude of opportunities.
”As an undergrad, they give you the information, you study the information — that’s what’s on the test,” Ramsey said. “And in med school, they give you everything, and you have to synthesize it and figure out what’s the most important [and] what is not.”
Ramsey revealed that it took her time to get adjusted to how to be successful in her tests — then, Ramsey was able to spend more time studying successfully. She also noted that there were differences between students with higher socioeconomic backgrounds versus students who came from low-income backgrounds, and she often compared herself to students who seemed more successful in that regard.
“There’s definitely a discrepancy, depending on what your background is, how much money you have your family,” Ramsey added. “That’s the thing I wish I knew earlier about medical school.”
When she attended her residency program at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital, Ramsey described it as an “interesting” transition. Though she was getting paid, her salary was nothing compared to the amount of work she was required to do, leaving her feeling “poor” and underpaid.
“You want to impress everybody, but at some point in residency, a switch goes off and you’re like, I’m being overworked,” Ramsey added.
The Creation of Gorjus Doc
When Ramsey was in medical school, she noted that she put a lot of energy into improving diversity at the institution. However, she quickly realized she was doing work for free.
“From that point forward, I was like, I’m not investing all of this energy and time into somebody else,” Ramsey said. “I’m gonna invest my energy and time into myself. And that’s when I started Gorjus Doc.”
Gorjus Doc initially began as Ramsey’s personal blog: tapping into her writing skills back during her high school years, she documented her experiences as a Black woman in medicine. However, it quickly transitioned into a page that covered sex and reproductive health — two things she was much more passionate about.
The phrase ‘Gorjus’ arose from a nickname Ramsey had in the eighth grade. Eventually, it became her name on social media. After Ramsey became a doctor, she added ‘Doc’ at the end.
In Ramsey’s pursuit of revamping her platform to include more sexual health content, Ramsey struggled to find images or graphics containing people of color — specifically, there was a lack of diversity in showcasing the different skin tones of various body parts.
“I couldn’t find any images that look like people of color,” Ramsey recalled. “And I went crazy. And I leaned back on my drawing skills from back when I was a teenager … so I started drawing images, people color, stretch marks, things like that.”
Ramsey said that she has “a lot” planned for Gorjus Doc as it continues to evolve and grow. In addition to her artwork, Ramsey is also seeking to create videos and workshops. She is also passionate about learning about global health, and she hopes to learn from other countries and bring their lessons learned back to the United States.
“I have so many dreams, so many dreams,” Ramsey added. “I really want [Gorjus Doc] to be internationally known.”
According to Ramsey, people are aware that they can visit her website and ask her for resources that can ease their role as a clinician or educator. She also hopes that adolescents will feel seen, heard and understood.
Ramsey also hopes to create her own curriculum that bridges a variety of perspectives, including reproductive justice and policy, with the goal of empowering young adults to be advocates of their own health. She also wants to open a youth center, which would act as a centralized “hub” that provides clothes, mental and physical health services, food and job training.
The main thing that kept Ramsey motivated, she noted, was the fact that people needed Gorjus Doc and the services that it provides.
“There were points with Gorjus Doc that I was like, why am I even doing this?” Ramsey said. “This is so much extra work, I feel like people don’t appreciate what I’m doing. But you have to stick to the plan, you have to remember why you’re doing it.”
