TAMPA, Fla. — Rufus Pope said his route through higher education will help him take medical care where it needs to go.
“It’s something that I’ve always wanted, and I didn’t always know it was achievable. I’d never had a Black doctor. Even just realizing that was something that made me reconsider my position and go to school for it,” Pope said.
Pope started at Hillsborough Community College on the nursing trek. Then, his wife encouraged him to add "doctor" to his name.
“I want to be what I didn’t see,” Pope said. “I want to have non-profits; I want to have urgent cares.”
For all the challenges Rufus did see but could no longer stand, like poor medical care and limited options, he wanted to cut it from his community.
“What I really want to do is be a surgeon. I want to go in and physically correct,” Pope said. “We don’t have enough education in terms of what’s happening in our bodies. And typically, once it does happen, it’s too late.”
That’s why treatment for medicine will be induced by what Pope has lived.
“It was one of the scariest things I’ve experienced: standing between my child who’s not breathing and my wife who is not responding. What do you do with that,” Pope said.
Nearly victims of birthing and being born. Pope said there’s a better way.
“The nurses did not comply. And because of that my wife literally had my son prematurely in triage,” Pope said. “Who knows what could’ve happened. my son was purple.”
All of it framed his family portrait.
“On top of that, my wife is just an incredible support,” Pope said.
Pope is a non-traditional student with a strong stance, and a stronger foundation, which is why Pope said he is right to model the remedy.
Pope is a father of four, and he is receiving his Associate of Arts degree in medical sciences. He will transfer to USF, where he will pursue his bachelor’s degree, majoring in public health with a minor in business. He will then attend medical school to become a surgeon.