DR. WAYNE FREDERICK LEADER OF THE MECCA BY ERICKA BLOUNT DANOIS 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 8 | HBCU Times 2020 Winter Issue
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.
FREDE 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.
