Growing up, Dr. Antonio Webb said he didn’t see a lot of Black doctors.
In fact, only 5% of physicians in the country are Black. The numbers are even scarcer in San Antonio.
“I think it’s important for kids to see something that they want to become,” Webb said. “So I told myself once I became a doctor that I would try to do everything I can to reach back and help as many people get to the point where I’m at.”
Now a top-rated spinal surgeon who often works with the San Antonio Spurs, Webb wants to change the experience of kids not seeing themselves represented and encourage students to consider careers in healthcare.
Hailing from Shreveport, Louisiana, Webb grew up in a family afflicted by gang violence, drugs and the justice system. Wanting to break the cycle, he graduated high school with honors and promptly joined the military.
After an eight-year military career, he completed medical school, residency and a fellowship, eventually becoming one of the founding partners at the South Texas Surgical and Speciality Group, located in San Antonio.
In 2014, he even wrote “Overcoming the Odds,” documenting his journey from the streets of Louisiana, to his military service in Iraq, to his path in becoming a celebrated surgeon.
“I don’t take anything for granted,” he wrote. “I know I am incredibly blessed.”
But his journey has also been a front-row seat to the gaps in access and lack of exposure to careers in medicine for high-needs students.
A frequent student mentor, Webb partnered with Spurs Sports and Entertainment and the Webb Family Foundation to host a health careers fair for a mix of local high school and college students on June 6.
Webb’s fair was held at the Spurs Impact Center, the NBA basketball team’s old training grounds currently under renovation to be more of a community hub.
Physicians and students from across San Antonio spread out throughout the building, from the practice court to the board rooms and the team’s old locker room.
Patricia Mejia, chief impact and inclusion officer for SS&E, said the Impact Center’s purpose is to host leaders like Webb who want to give back, especially in the fields of workforce development, science, technology, engineering and math.
“We’ve been over the past couple of years trying to combine STEM and basketball, using basketball as an entry point, but not the end result,” Mejia said.
While several education groups and leaders in San Antonio are already working on improving academic and career outcomes in a city with a stubborn poverty rate, the Spurs Impact Center is banking on its household brand and name recognition to leave a lasting impression on those that walk through its doors.
When students and community members walk into the impact center for different trainings and programs, Mejia said “they learn different. They hear differently.
“Because they’re like, ‘oh my God, I matter as much as Ginobili.'”
A day of career exploration
As part of the day’s events, students were taken into the old Spurs locker room and the old video room, where the team would rewatch and analyze plays. Once the stomping grounds of past and current Spurs, these spaces now serve as intimate settings where students and community members can draw inspiration.
Split into rotating workshops, Saturday’s event gave students a diverse taste of what health care careers look like, featuring orthopedic residents, optometrists, cardiologists, medicine technology sales reps, sports medicine physicians with private practices and more.
In a board room with a direct view of the old Spurs practice court, orthopedic residents from UT Health San Antonio guide students through suturing a fake rubber skin.
Bria Chritien, 32, takes to suturing quickly. A full-time mom of two, and one of the more non-traditional students at the fair, she’s currently taking prerequisite courses at St. Philip’s College and plans to be a pediatric oncologist.
Chritien wants to go into pediatric medicine because of her own experience with her children’s health issues. While she’s closer to the start than the end of her education journey, she’s set on getting as much hands-on experience as possible.
Orthopedic resident Katerina Papanikolaou guides Bria through a simple interrupted suture. Before helping Chritien, Papanikolaou taught the method to a couple of new grads from O’Connor High School.
“Take your pickups or needle driver,” Papanikolaou kicks off the suturing lesson. “This is the straight one, and you’re gonna pinch the needle, so it’s like perpendicular like this, and then you think all should click.”
She demonstrates and students follow.
Next door, Dr. Angela Garza demonstrates how to use a direct ophthalmoscope, a handheld medical device used to examine the inside structure of eyes.
Garza, a licensed therapeutic optometrist, founded EYES of Cresta Bella in 2020. Like many current San Antonio students, she was a first-generation college grad.
“I am hoping to convince all of you that you need to go into eye care, because it’s a lot of fun, it’s a lot of work, but it’s very rewarding,” Garza tells a small group of students.
Selasie Gifa-Johnson is part of the group. He’s a biochemistry senior at the University of Texas San Antonio hailing from Canada.
While he’s always known he wants to be a doctor, Gifa-Johnson became more interested in the spine after shadowing Webb a few times.
“Watching Dr. Webb — it’s really cool because you can see the people in their pain,” Gifa-Johnson recalled. “To see him be able to go in and do a surgery and then, like, alleviate a person’s pain to a massive degree.”
A few feet away on the basketball court, one physician guides students through CPR on a dummy, another shows onlookers how to use an ultrasound, and orthopedic surgeons demonstrate fastening screws into fake leg bones.
Across the court, sports medicine doctors talk students through their unique jobs, from working with patients in the comfort of their own private offices to working the sidelines of pro games.
The physicians in attendance all came at Webb’s request.
Dr. Wayne Lee, an orthopedic surgeon who often works with athletes, noted that less than 2% of orthopedic surgeons are Black and even fewer are women.
“But getting students into ortho is a specialized ask… It’s important to get them interested in health care first,” Lee said.
While education experts are pushing for career exploration and college exposure at an earlier and earlier age, Webb says there’s value in connecting with older students in high school and college. He plans to keep putting on these kinds of events and expanding them to more locations and students.
“That’s a good age where you can come in at a pivotal point for them,” Webb said. “I didn’t know about becoming a physician or anything about medicine until I was high school… I think you can see it, you can believe it, and you can actually achieve it.”
