Bryttany McClendon on Pain, Bias, and Being Believed

Medical student Bryttany McClendon joins BLKHLTH to share her perspective on pain bias, advocacy, and the work of the Advil Pain Equity Project.

In this video, medical student Bryttany McClendon shares how systemic bias shows up in pain care — and what future providers can do to change it.

As part of the Advil Pain Equity Project, Bryttany speaks honestly about her training at Howard, her lived experience as a Black woman in medicine, and the gaps she sees in clinical empathy. She joins the BLKHLTH team to reflect on what advocacy looks like from inside the system and why patients shouldn’t have to prove their pain to be taken seriously.

We also discuss new tools developed through the project, including pain journals and provider resources now available at believemypain.com, created to help close the gap in treatment.