Dr. John Trotter Promotes Medical Access Across Borders

Dr. John R. Trotter II, 37, Bloomfield Hills resident for 21 years, is continuing a family tradition as a physician.

He is a doctor at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital and continues the family practice, Grace Family Health Center, after his father, John Trotter Sr., passed away in 2008.

Trotter is one of the modern-day community leaders and trailblazers whom Patch is highlighting in recognition of Black History Month.

His father, who was a doctor for 35 years, gave him a stethoscope as a Christmas gift when he was 5 years old, Trotter said. He said he knew then that he wanted to be a doctor and the dream never changed.

One of his independent projects is PUMA – Providing Urban Medical Access.

“It’s about providing medical access to the under-served communities,” he said.

He said the project works to provide free medical access through doctors’ offices, schools and churches. This is a project he said he hopes to spread across the country and abroad.

“We’re working in Botswana and South Africa to build hospitals and provide doctors for their patients,” he said.

He said they went in July and October and will go again in April.

“It’s bigger than myself,” he said about working in health care. “It’s giving back and helping others.”

He said Black History Month can be a wake up call to see where the black community is and how it can be helped.

“I feel like it’s a time to recognize the African American community, its history and where they came from,” he said.

He said it’s nice to see the progression in leadership, for example, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to President Obama.

Trotter works with all communities but is also the interim secretary for the National Medical Association (NMA), which promotes the collective interests of physicians and patients of African descent. He oversees health care education in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin for the NMA, he said.

Continuing a Family Tradition

Trotter spent much of his time before and during medical school researching topics like chemotherapy resistance and Parkinson’s disease and studied abroad in places like Spain and Brazil.

“Then my father became ill and I had to come back to Michigan,” he said.

He helped with the practice and decided to take over when his father died, Trotter said. He also had two uncles, his father’s brother and mother’s brother, in the field. He then expanded the practice, which now has four locations.

Trotter is also the vice president of the Detroit Black Chamber of Commerce. Through this he invited Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin to Detroit in October to discuss Medicaid, the future of health care and how to cover the uninsured.