Keith Landrum Man of Integrity By Prather Jackson
Keith Landrum has a doctorate in podiatric medicine and is a practicing attorney in Beverly Hills, California. His journey in both the medical and legal fields has proven that he is not only wellskilled in his professions, but also a man of integrity. I had the opportunity of sitting down with Attorney Landrum and asked him some pointed questions as to how he managed to go from medicine to law and marry them into a prolific career that he is doing very well at. His response, “Everyone has drive…something that makes them strive to do more or better. The question is will they act on it?” Let’s take a look at what that meant for Keith Landrum. You started out as a doctor. How did that come about? I was born in East Chicago, Indiana. My grandparents had migrated there from Alabama for the steel mill jobs. My parents divorced when I was in middle school so I wound up being moved around and attended four different high schools. I finally graduated from Lompoc High School in Lompoc, California and I lived about one mile from the Lompoc Federal Prison, where several of the Watergate criminals were sentenced. I just knew that I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, so at some point in high school, I realized that I wanted to become a doctor. I had good grades and qualified for admission to University of California, Santa Barbara where I entered in 1973 and majored in Biological Science. Four years later, I finished Pre-med.
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I recall that in 1976, there was a career day on the UCSB campus for all of the different medical specialties. There was a group from San Francisco representing the California College of Podiatric Medicine. We had a pretty amazing conversation about the extremely low number of existing Black podiatrists, and they encouraged me to pursue that career. That sparked my interest, so I did my research and found myself back in Chicago attending the Illinois College of Podiatric Medicine and obtained my doctorate in Podiatric Medicine in 1981. I was then selected as a surgical resident by Memorial Hospital of Hawthorne, and once again, I was back in California. I finished my surgical residency in 1982, was awarded a plaque of Surgical Excellence, and I started a private practice in Hawthorne, California specializing in podiatric medicine and foot surgery. I loved it!
