From Braids to Breakthroughs: How Angela Udongwo Is Revolutionizing Radiology
Having the courage to create change in the healthcare system is not easy, yet Angela Udongwo has successfully made that difference in the lives of overlooked patients. As a third-year student at Temple University, studying at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine gave her the keys for what’s to come. Full of spirit with a creative heart, Udongwo has switched roles, going from a budding medical student to teaching doctors about how Black hairstyles show up on X-ray scans.
Finding her voice in a world where research can go unnoticed, she has begun a mission to go against the grain, take a leap of faith, and provide information for patients who were disregarded. ”Hair is important; it's a part of us,” says Udongwo. “How we wear our hair shows where we're from, what part of our life we're in.” We caught up with Udongwo to learn more about her education, when she first noticed an educational discrepancy, and how she’s making a difference today.
From a Research Project to Leading the Way
Angela Udongwo enrolled at Temple University in 2021 where she would study under Hillel S. Maresky, MD, Assistant Professor of Radiology. As she was learning all about virtual reality in interventional radiology procedures, she noticed Dr. Maresky had a folder full of chest X-rays where there was hair covering the viewpoint. Little did she know, this would be the start of everything—and soon after their research project was born.
“Coming previously from Toronto, where the demographic was mostly Caucasian, Dr. Maresky had been collecting these images since he started at Temple in North Philadelphia, which is predominantly an African-American community,” says Udongwo. Hair artifacts (unwanted distortions in X-ray images caused by hair) not only make it difficult to identify what's being examined, which can lead to misdiagnoses, but they also show examples of Black hairstyles not properly represented in the medical education and research communities.
To bridge this gap, Dr. Maresky and Udongwo dived right into their research, examining hairstyles in chest X-ray (CXR) and MRI images. They started by identifying the five most-popular Black hairstyles (small braids, large braids, small twists, large twists, and locs) and created a slideshow with examples of how each hairstyle looks on a radiograph, CT slice, and/or chest X-ray. Udongwo then created a survey to see how well physicians could differentiate these hairstyles from pathology, like pneumonia, tuberculosis, or pneumothorax.
Udongwo used this survey to compare demographics and check their level of awareness. “Medical students are usually not the ones teaching in this dynamic, but it was so refreshing to see how open physicians were to this information,” she said. By educating her community on what might’ve been mislooked, Udongwo is making a lasting impact on the medical field.
Believe in You, And Others Will Too
Udongwo presented her research to the Pennsylvania Radiologic Society.“Thinking about educating physicians on this topic was intimidating,” she says. “There’s a bit of a hierarchy in the medical field, and medicine isn’t black and white. People have different levels of familiarity with the topic, and not every physician or practice is the same way.” Once the study was released, Udongwo was met with some backlash. All physicians and technicians have their own way of interacting with hair in images, and not everyone understood the importance of what Udongwo was doing. However, once her findings sunk in and providers were better educated, they were able to find common ground.
Taking the lead on this project and breaking barriers is something that shows bravery. “I’m surrounded by people who really like to learn and want to become better physicians. This research is so personal to me, and I would love to keep raising awareness and having people ask questions,” says Udongwo. America has some of the most advanced technology and resources available, and Udongwo knows on paper, it is a robust system, “I want my career to positively impact people with the knowledge and technical skills I gained through training.” In the future, Udongwo is looking forward to her career in medicine. She desires to keep pushing and strive higher on a global scale, being surrounded by those who inspire her.
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