NSU PARTNERSHIP WITH EVMS COULD INCREASE BLACK MEDICAL DOCTORS

By Leonard E. Colvin Chief Reporter New Journal and Guide

The percentage of practicing African-American physicians, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), is about 6 percent.

Data from the American Association of Medical Colleges shows only 6 percent of practicing American doctors are Black or multiracial. Less than 6 percent of physicians are Hispanic.

The same rate of AfricanAmericans’ participation in medical careers exists in Hampton Roads.

But recently steps were made that could lead to an increased number of African-American physicians in Hampton Roads and nationally.

Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and Norfolk State University (NSU) are creating a new partnership aimed at reducing racial health disparities in Hampton Roads.

The initiative will fund joint research projects on health equity issues featuring faculty and students from both schools. It will be known as “ENRICHe” – short for the “EVMS-NSU Research and Training Incubator for Collaboration and Health Equity.”

Research has shown that health outcomes are sometimes wildly different between Americans based on their race.

For instance, Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to suffer from diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, asthma, and a host of other ailments. Black Americans to protect all of us. The evidence here is startling and indisputable. These officers need to be tried, convicted, and imprisoned to satisfy justice and to send a message to police in all of our cities that this culture of violence in their ranks will no longer be sanctioned,” Gaspard stated.

President Joe Biden said he spoke with Nichols’ family and expressed his outrage.

“Like so many, I was outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Tyre Nichols’ death,” the president stated.

“It is yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day.” also have lower life expectancies than white Americans.

Norfolk State President Javaune Adams-Gaston said those inequities have persisted because of a lack of focus on removing them. She said that there are some 100 students currently enrolled in the NSU’s Dozoretz National Institute for Mathematics and Applied Sciences (DNIMAS) rigorous honors program for students who major in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, or physics who could be directed into the program.

“We intend to make the differences that create lives medical practitioners. that are not lost far too early, that we do not have a loss of our babies because we have not been able to get people the resources they need,” Adams-Gaston said at the announcement of the collaboration Tuesday morning (Jan. 24). The schools will contribute $250,000 each into a grant fund to support the research efforts. AdamsGaston said this initial halfmillion is meant to be seed funding and they are hoping for additional contributions in the future to underwrite further research.

Scholars note that some health disparity issues are born from a lack of minority representation among

EVMS President Alfred Abuhamad noted that only 8 percent of Virginia’s 22,000 active physicians identify as African-American.

In contrast, about 31 percent of the greater Hampton Roads population is Black.

“We know that to improve health outcomes, our healthcare workforce needs to mirror the diversity of our communities,” Abuhamad said Tuesday.

The collaborative research efforts are meant to give the students from Norfolk State – a historically Black university – exposure to medical careers and show them different pathways into health and medicine.

NEW BARBARA L. WILLIS WELLNESS CENTER OPENS, EXPANDS ACCESSIBLE HEALTH CARE

By Jaylen Scott Winter Intern

New Journal and Guide

PORTSMOUTH

The Hampton Roads Community Health Center held a grand opening of their new building, the Barbara L Willis Wellness Center, on January 27. The building is named after their CEO, Barbara L Willis, and is located at 1541 High Street in Portsmouth, Virginia.

The Hampton Roads Community Health Center, or the HRCHC, has been stationed in the Hampton Roads area for 27 years, forming on

May 14, 1995, formally known as the Portsmouth Community Health Center. The center was formed after a study was conducted by the Mayor of the City of Portsmouth in 1992, where they discovered that there was a shortage and misdistribution of primary care physicians to an estimated 37,000 Portsmouth residents. According to the HRCHC, because a majority of residents were uninsured, or if they were insured, they were unable to find a doctor. This left them open to the inappropriate use of the city’s health department and hospital emergency rooms.

BHM PROGRAM:

“A Tribute To Frederick Douglass,” February 21

PORTSMOUTH On Tuesday, February 21 at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. a program paying tribute to Frederick Douglass will take place at Emanuel A.M.E. Church, 637 North Street in Portsmouth VA 23704.

“Pride in Black Voices:

A Tribute to Frederick Douglass” is a riveting collaboration performance between the Virginia Opera and Spiritual Concepts Publishing.

The power of Frederick Douglass is brought to life for the audience by author, performer, poet, historian, and Suffolk, VA native, Nathan M. Richardson. Virginia Opera artists will raise their voices in song, echoing the determination, spirit, and pride that only Douglass’ words could convey. This program is free and open to the public, inperson, and available to stream online.

From that point on, the HRCHC kept expanding and expanding, in the Hampton Roads region, and as of 2023, they now have seven locations. They have the Portsmouth Community Health Center, the Park Place Family Medical Center, the Communicare Family Health Center, the Oceanview Medical and Dental Center, and the Little Creek Family Medical Center, which is temporarily closed due to COVID. HRCHC handles a variety of medical treatments including, but not limited to: Pediatrics, Dental, OB/ GYN, Behavioral Health, Internal Medicine, and more.

Tidewater Cultural Alliance Presents African Comics Creator At TCC, February 11

HAMPTON ROADS

Tidewater Community College celebrates Black History Month 2023 with a keynote event featuring Tidewater African Cultural Alliance presenting Afro Mania with the spotlight on Ethiopia. The event will be held on Feb. 11 from 2-4:30 p.m. at the JointUse Library on the Virginia Beach Campus. The event will include an address by Beserat Debebe, a graphic novelist and founder of Etan Comics, which features epic stories, African creators and “comics for every fan.”

Debebe’s comics offer a world of African fantasy and superhero stories. It’s been something he’s wanted to do since coming to the United States in 2004. He spent his early days in libraries and bookstores reading comics and graphic novels. This event is open to the public.