SIU Med School Sets Black History Month Activities

Black History Month will be celebrated in February with two public events at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. Both events will be held at the medical school's main building at 801 N. Rutledge St., Springfield.

An Ethnic Heritage Day, celebrating African-American and West Indies cultures, will be held from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Tuesday, February 3, in SIU's Pearson Museum. The program includes short talks -- "African American's Contributions to Medicine" by Kathryn Harris, director of the Lincoln Historic Library; "African American Health Issues" by Zarinah Thompson, Springfield NAACP health chair; and "Health Care in Ghana" by Dr. Edem Agamah, oncologist at Central Illinois Hematology and Oncology Center; and Enos Elementary School student singers. African exhibits and a cultural potluck will complete the program. The School is hosting an Ethnic Heritage Day each month, featuring different cultures and organized by the School's Office of Diversity Multicultural and Minority Affairs.

Dr. Eric E. Whitaker will present "Disparities in Minority Healthcare" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 10, in SIU's South Auditorium. Whitaker is director of the Illinois Department of Public Health and assistant professor at Rush Medical College's Department of Medicine and Preventative Medicine. He also is active with Project Brotherhood, a private assistance program, which provides medical and social services for disadvantaged men in Chicago. The program will include African-American musical selections and will be followed by a reception and African fashion show.

The talk is organized by SIU's chapter of the Student National Medical Association. Danielle Waldrop from Norristown, Pa., and Casey Williams from Chicago, both second-year medical students, are this year's co-chairs for Black History Month. The Student National Medical Association is composed of medical and premedical students focused on the needs of minority students across the nation. Its mission is to promote awareness of health care issues pertinent to the minority community.

For more information, contact Dr. Wesley G. McNeese, Diversity, Multicultural and Minority Affairs, at 217-545-7334 weekdays.

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NOTE: A JPG photo of Whitaker is available. E-mail rslottag or nzimmers@siumed.edu.