DR. WAYNE FREDERICK LEADER OF THE MECCA

BY ERICKA BLOUNT DANOIS

8 | HBCU Times 2020 Winter Issue

FREDERICK At 9:30am on a humid day in Washington, D.C., Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, Howard University’s president, isn’t just starting his workday like most people. He has already seen four patients at Howard Hospital. All of them are suffering from complex gastrointestinal cancers. Almost daily he spends his early mornings operating on patients and teaching residents and students at the hospital. “It keeps me in the forefront of what I’m doing,” said Frederick about continuing work in the medical field. “And it keeps me in and around the classroom.” How Dr. Frederick juggles being a surgeon and the president of Howard University at the young age of 48, is a mystery. But some clues lie in his background, both as an exceptional student in his homeland on the island of Trinidad and as a Howard University student starting at age 16 and a graduate of Howard University’s medical school by the age of 22. Education and directing students have been a part of his path before he likely even realized it was his calling. Growing up in Trinidad, Frederick had heard about Howard University. The school’s reputation was known throughout the diaspora. It was known as the Mecca – the shining star of higher education. The first prime minister of Trinidad, Eric Williams, was a political science professor at Howard. He left Howard to go back to Trinidad to work to defeat colonialism there, achieving internal self-government in 1959. He became prime minister of the new nation after achieving its independence in 1962 and made the country a republic in 1976. He put into place a system he called “pragmatic socialism” which helped make Trinidad and Tobago the wealthiest Commonwealth Caribbean nation. “His contribution stands out,” said Frederick. “That’s what I always remembered about Howard and the impact he had. It was a huge influence and a huge part of my decision to come to Howard versus any other school.” A phone conversation Frederick overhead his grandmother having helped to direct his path towards medicine. “I overheard her speaking about sickle cell and she was speaking about me,” Frederick remembers. “I told her I was going to be a doctor to fix it. She was one of those people that never doubted that I could do it. She was always very confident that I could achieve whatever I wanted. That’s who she was to me. That’s who she is today. She just turned 95.” Being hospitalized regularly as a result of suffering from sickle cell anemia, Frederick was being influenced by the physicians and nurses who cared for him to eventually considering a career in medicine. His mother, who was a nurse, would bring home surgical caps and masks that he would wear. “You never know what kinds of things will influence you,” said Frederick. Frederick joined the faculty at Howard in 2006 and became the director of the university’s hospital cancer center 5 years later. That same year, in 2011, he earned another Howard degree - after earning a B.S. and a medical degree - he finished a master’s in business administration.

HBCU Times 2020 Winter Issue | 9 FREDERICK Frederick was appointed the president of Howard University in the summer of 2014 amidst concern about the financial health of Howard’s hospital and a drop in major national rankings for the university. After a few years he helped to stabilize both the university and the hospital. Howard has since become a Tier 1 National university in US News and World Report rankings. The hospital remains important to both the community and to the student population, Frederick says. “From a cultural competency point of view what we do right now with our students is special because of the patient population they react with and the hospital allows them to do that,” Frederick said. “If the hospital was not there we would probably have a different experience. When our students leave our medical schools they tend to go and serve neighborhoods with communities of color. Part of that is because of the patients they see.” Howard has become a leader in the nation in the field of healthcare. “We send more African Americans to medical school than any other institution in the country,” said Frederick. “We are helping to diversify the talent pool in the healthcare industry. I think that’s one of Howard’s biggest impact to the nation. That’s a huge contribution.” Under Frederick’s leadership, programs like the STEM Scholars program, Howard Forward and Howard’s Google Partnership are helping to bring students to the forefront of industries that are thriving. In the past decade, according to Frederick, the National Science Foundation revealed that Howard University has had more students to complete PhD’s than any other institution in the country. As a result of the STEM program students participate in summer research, travel and work in labs all around the world performing cutting edge research. Howard Forward, another program started by Frederick, is a five-year plan for the university which includes improvements to academic programs and a commitment to community service among other measures to pursue financial sustainability. For the Google partnership, Frederick recognized that Google had a need for more diversity. He traveled to Silicon Valley to share with companies there the things that Howard students were doing and why they should be interested in Howard students. Google gave Howard the opportunity to design a program to work in partnership with Howard. Howard faculty have also had the opportunity to teach in the program. The pilot program was a summer residency, an immersion curriculum for rising juniors and seniors in the university’s computer science program. Their workspace was on Google’s Mountain View campus with a stipend for housing and expenses. The program has since become a year-long immersion program with Howard and partnering HBCU institutions. “It’s a great opportunity for the students and for the faculty. Faculty come back and influence their curriculum. I think it makes the institution better in the field,” said Frederick. Frederick’s vision entails continuing to move Howard forward on the path it’s on. “We are leaders of innovation and we have to be mindful of what fields are growing and how our students are prepared to participate in those fields and are well prepared to participate. We want to make sure everyone has access to what they need.”