National
HBCUs Leading Next Generation Of Minority Health Care Research
[The Huffington Post]
Howard University Interim President Wayne A. I. Frederick wants his students following you around the grocery store. He envisions HU nutrition science undergraduates providing shoppers with reports on dietary recommendations, and interfacing with their physicians to determine nutrition plans that lead to longevity and better quality of life.
He imagines Howard physical therapy students leading group exercise sessions in community centers throughout Washington D.C., charting the improvements of participants from all age groups learning and living the value of an active lifestyle.
“This is how we begin to have a more integrated system; keeping patients at the center, keeping the community as the focus, and really reaching out from our schools to provide the type of care that affects positively and as a whole,” says Frederick, a nationally renowned surgeon and medical scholar who earned undergraduate and medical degrees from Howard before the age of 22.
“I think HBCUs, and certainly Howard, are best positioned to fulfill that dream.”
The ‘Mecca,’ leads an impressive cohort of HBCUs making significant gains in research, outreach and professional development for students at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels of training. Several public and private black colleges are state and national leaders in the production of African-American physicians, nurse practitioners and public health professionals, and generate timely research on factors and conditions which lead to illnesses disproportionately affecting African-Americans.
