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BLACK MEDICAL SCHOOLS OUTPERFORM

floridan — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:32:28 +0000

Washington, DC – As the health system girds for an influx of newly insured patients, a new study in the June 15 Annals of Internal Medicine examines the record of the nation’s medical schools in graduating physicians to meet this new public need. The study, the first to score all U.S. medical schools on their ability to meet a social mission, shows wide variations among institutions in their production of physicians who practice primary care, work in underserved areas, and are minorities. Key findings from the George Washington University study of 141 medical schools: *Medical schools in the Northeast generally performed poorly on all three measures and, as such, had the lowest regional social mission scores. *Public medical schools graduated higher proportions of primary care physicians than their private counterparts. *Schools with substantial National Institutes of Health research funding generally produced fewer primary care physicians and physicians practicing in underserved areas, and thus had lower social mission scores overall. *Several large research institutions (notably the University of Minnesota and University of Washington) defied this trend, ranking in the top quartile for overall social mission score. *Historically black schools had the highest social mission rankings. *Osteopathic schools produced more primary care physicians than allopathic schools but trained fewer minorities. *Schools in progressively smaller cities produced more primary care physicians and physicians who practiced in underserved communities but graduated fewer minorities. With medical schools expanding for the first time in over 30 years, the findings bring attention to the role that medical schools play in determining the make-up of the U.S. physician workforce. “Where doctors choose to work, and what specialty they select, are heavily influenced by medical school,” says lead author Fitzhugh Mullan, MD, a professor of health policy at George Washington University. “By recruiting minority students and prioritizing the training of primary care physicians and promoting practice in underserved areas, medical schools will help deliver the health care that Americans desperately need,” he says. The study was funded with a grant from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. To determine the true outcomes of medical education rather than the intermediate preferences of medical students and residents, Mullan and his team studied physicians in practice after the completion of all training and national obligations (such as military service or National Health Service Corps placements). The researchers examined data from medical school graduates from 1999 to 2001, which provided a very different picture than previous studies. Previous analyses, such as the popular U.S. News & World Report rankings, have relied on the initial residency selection or reported specialty preference of students. The George Washington University study pinpoints where graduates are and what type of medicine they actually practice. The study provides a real-time and real-place report on the actual career selections of medical school graduates and the health care they currently provide. The 20 schools with the highest social mission scores (ranked from highest to lowest): 1. Morehouse College 2. Meharry Medical College 3. Howard University 4. Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine 5. University of Kansas 6. Michigan State University 7. East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine 8. University of South Alabama, Ponce Medical College 9. University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine 10. Oregon Health & Sciences University 11. East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine 12. University of Mississippi 13. University of Kentucky 14. Southern Illinois University 15. Marshall University 16. Joan C. Edwards University 17. University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester 18. University of Illinois 19. University of New Mexico 20. University of Wisconsin The 20 schools with the lowest social mission scores (ranked from highest to lowest): 122. Johns Hopkins University 123. Stanford University 124. Duke University 125. Texas A&M University 126. Columbia University 127. Albany Medical College, Columbia University 128. Medical College of Wisconsin 129. University of Pennsylvania 130. Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine 131. Boston University 132. Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University 133. Stony Brook University 134. Thomas Jefferson University 135. Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences 136. University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey 137. New York University 138. University of California Irvine 139. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine 140. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 141. Vanderbilt University The authors note that these findings are important in the context of U.S. health care today. “The social mission of medicine and medical education should be important to everyone. It isn’t just about rural areas or just about poor people, it’s about the entire fabric of how we deliver care,” says Mullan. “As patients are insured through health reform, the first place they will go is the primary care office. Medical schools need to be mindful of the nation’s requirements for primary care, for doctors prepared to work in underserved communities, and for minority physicians to help meet the growing and changing needs of the country.” ### “The Social Mission of Medication Education: Ranking the Schools” is published in the June 15, 2010, Annals of Internal Medicine. The research was performed under the auspices of The Medical Education Futures Study (www.medicaleducationfutures.org), a research program that examines the social mission of medical education during the current period of medical school expansion and health care reform. It is funded by the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.

Some of the Worlds Worst Economies

floridan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:19:42 +0000

Ghana has the world's largest manmade lake and the 1-gigawatt Aksombo Hydroelectric Plant, built to supply electricity to Africa's largest aluminum smelter. But the smelter has been idle since 2009, a casualty of low aluminum prices and persistent electricity shortages that have forced the government to divert the power elsewhere. Ghana is a typical example of the world's worst-managed economies: It's a country that shouldn't be poor, but it is. The West African nation's gross domestic product per capita fell 9% last year to $621, ranking it 154th out of 184 countries tracked by the International Monetary Fund, below resource-impoverished Haiti. With a $3 billion trade deficit last year and $4.9 billion in external debt, Ghana is struggling to pay its bills even as it sits on some of the world's biggest reserves of gold and bauxite, as well as considerable amounts of offshore oil, which is being developed by Anadarko Petroleum ( APC - news - people ) and others. Read the rest of the story

Black Dominicans Stripped of Citizenship

floridan — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 02:29:55 +0000

NEW YORK, -- A case challenging the Dominican Republic's treatment of its citizens of Haitian ancestry was filed before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rightstoday by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL). The case focuses on Emildo Bueno Oguis, a Dominican of Haitian descent who was refused a certified copy of his birth certificate—essential to travel, work, or access other basic services in the Dominican Republic—by the civil registry in 2007. "Bueno Oguis's case is emblematic of the discrimination faced today by thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent," said James A. Goldston, the executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. "The Dominican government is using a panoply of legislative and administrative tactics to deprive this population of its lawful rights. Without access to their identity documents, many Dominicans of Haitian descent find themselves essentially stateless." Bueno Oguis was born in the Dominican Republic in 1975 and recognized by multiple state agencies as a citizen, in accordance with the law. However, since 2007, government authorities have argued that he actually does not have the right to Dominican nationality because of his parents' immigration status at the time of his birth, retroactively applying a 2004 migration law to strip him of citizenship. A hearing on Bueno Oguis's case has been pending before the Dominican Republic's Supreme Court for more than fifteen months. After three years without essential documents, Bueno Oguis has faced unacceptable limitations on his fundamental rights, including restrictions on his ability to move freely and own property. The Bueno Oguis case is the first nationality-related complaint to be filed against the Dominican Republic before a human rights tribunal since the Inter-American Court's landmark ruling in Yean and Bosico. In that case, the court ruled in 2005 that parents' migration status could not be a factor in determining nationality, and found the Dominican Republic's nationality policies racially discriminatory against Dominicans of Haitian descent. "The Dominican Republic has to comply with the spirit of the Inter-American Court's decision," said Ariela Peralta, Deputy Director of CEJIL. "The new constitution raises additional concerns, and we hope that this case will spur a more productive dialogue on how the country can work to end these racist policies." The Justice Initiative works together with partner organizations in the Dominican Republic to document denial and deprivation of nationality, raise awareness of the problem of statelessness, demand justice for victims, and advocate for modification of discriminatory nationality laws and policies. The Open Society Justice Initiative uses law to protect and empower people around the world. Through litigation, advocacy, research, and technical assistance, the Justice Initiative promotes human rights and builds legal capacity for open societies. The Center for Justice and International Law is an organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of human rights on the American continent, and to litigation before the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights.

Ollie Woodson, Temptations Singer Dead at 58

floridan — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 02:19:38 +0000

Ali-Ollie Woodson, who led the legendary Motown quintet The Temptations in the 1980s and '90s and helped restore them to their hit-making glory with songs including "Treat Her Like A Lady," has died, a friend said. He was 58. Woodson died Sunday, May 30 in southern California after battling cancer, Motown Alumni Association President Billy Wilson said. Wilson said Woodson's wife, Juanita, told him about the death Sunday. Woodson was not an original member of the group, which had several lineup changes since it started in the 1960s. But he played an integral part in keeping the Temptations from becoming just nostalgia act. By the early 1980s, the Temptations were no longer posting hit after hit like they did in the 1960s and '70s with classics such as "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," "My Girl," and "I Wish It Would Rain." The group had lost original members, and Woodson was charged with replacing Dennis Edwards, whose passionate voice defined the group during the 1970s. Woodson's voice, though similar to Edwards' with its fiery tone, was distinct in itself, and helped the group notch the R&B hits "Treat Her Like A Lady" - which he wrote and sang lead on - "Sail Away" and "Lady Soul," from 1984 to 1986. "He had a coolness about himself that was really very inviting," said Wilson. He said he first met Woodson in 1980 before Woodson joined the group and that he last spoke with his friend about two weeks ago. Despite his fame, Woodson was "always a gentleman and always polite and kind to everybody. If we ever asked him to do anything, he never said, 'Well, it's going to cost you.' He'd always say, 'Yeah, let's go,'" said Wilson, who founded the Detroit-based Motown association in the mid-1990s. "He was just a star performer. Wonderful person. Wonderful, wonderful person," Wilson said. "He was very kind." "He was an excellent singer,” Wilson told the Detroit News. “He’s one of the few singers who was accommodating to virtually everything. He had a style and swagger about himself that was different than the other Temptations.” After leaving the group, Woodson began a solo career, and often toured with a Temptations-like revue called Ali-Ollie Woodson & the Emperors of Soul (Emperors of Soul being the name of the Tempts’ 1994 box set). In 1997, he guest starred on an episode of The Jamie Foxx Show as a patient in a mental hospital. He also appeared in a handful of movies after that. The singer also released a solo album, “Right Here All Along,” in 2001. From 2006-2008, he was in The Temptations Revue featuring Dennis Edwards, although he and Edwards were never Tempts members at the same time. Woodson also toured with Aretha Franklin in 2008. Comedienne/actress Luenell, who performed on the same bill as Woodson at the Hollywood Park Casino, offered her thoughts on his passing. “Ali Woodson was one of the few iconic soul singers left from the Motown era that could still sell out a crowd, light up a party and make the women scream," she said. "Ali and I have loved, fought, flew and cruised these United States together. His raspy but golden tones will be missed, but his music, acting and friendship will last in my heart forever.” Messages were left Monday for a producer and a manager who worked with Woodson. A recorded message at a phone number for his wife said the voice mailbox was full. Funeral services are pending.

Are Spanish Folks Leaving the Peach State?

floridan — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:22:15 +0000

Hispanics Are Leaving Georgia

Black Life Under Obama Worsens

floridan — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:12:28 +0000

Ginsburg knew what he was talking about. He served as executive director of President Lyndon Johnson’s National Commission on Civil Disorders, formed after explosive race riots swept the nation in 1967. He believed white America was responsible for that unrest by penning African-Americans into ghettos. “White institutions created it (the ghetto), white institutions maintain it and white society condones it,” he said, according to his obituary in The New York Times.

Ginsburg, who died May 23rd at his home in Alexandria, Va., at age 98, made the statement quoted above in 1992 comparing the situation then with the Sixties, but he might just as well have spoken today comparing our grim realities with the bleak Nineties. That’s because a poverty-struck black underclass continues to be a source of profits for the unscrupulous.

“The conditions now, in my view, are unquestionably worse in the inner cities,” attorney and civil rights stalwart David Ginsburg told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Education is worse. Housing is worse. Unemployment is worse. We now have a drug problem that we didn’t have in 1967 and 1968. There are millions of handguns. The cities have been essentially disregarded by the federal government.” Ginsburg knew what he was talking about. He served as executive director of President Lyndon Johnson’s National Commission on Civil Disorders, formed after explosive race riots swept the nation in 1967. He believed white America was responsible for that unrest by penning African-Americans into ghettos. “White institutions created it (the ghetto), white institutions maintain it and white society condones it,” he said, according to his obituary in The New York Times. Ginsburg, who died May 23rd at his home in Alexandria, Va., at age 98, made the statement quoted above in 1992 comparing the situation then with the Sixties, but he might just as well have spoken today comparing our grim realities with the bleak Nineties. That’s because a poverty-struck black underclass continues to be a source of profits for the unscrupulous. READ MORE HERE

Whats Up with the FBBIB?

floridan — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:50:03 +0000

I recently checked out the Florida Black Business Investment Board website (wow, thats a long name), and it doesn't look like they're doing a whole lot these days. Anybody got a read on FBBIB? Looks like the last time there was any activity was back in February 2010.

A Great Man Dies. Cyril Blythe Andrews, Jr., Dead at 79

floridan — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:30:41 +0000

BY IRIS B. HOLTON, Florida Sentinel Bulletin His roles of businessman and Community Activist often overlapped resulting in Mr. Andrews being chosen as a representative on several boards and committees. Throughout the years, his community service also resulted in his establishing lasting bonds and friendships. Mr. Andrews earned the respect of the people from all walks of life and on all economic levels, ranging from laymen to elected officials.

See the Entire Obituary Here

Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities

floridan — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:11:44 +0000

Taking place the last week of January each year in Eatonville and throughout Orange County, Florida, this multi-day, multi-disciplinary event celebrates the life and work of 20th century writer, folklorist and anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston; her hometown, Eatonville, the nation’s oldest incorporated African American municipality and the cultural contributions people of African ancestry have made to the United States and the world. Attracting thousands of locals and tourists, ZORA! Festival presents an impressive roster of arts, humanities and cultural programming. The event features museum exhibitions, public talks, panel discussions, workshops and concerts.

An Interview with MLK, 2010 Style

floridan — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:16:41 +0000

Martin: So you would like to interview me? Me: Martin, what is it like in heaven? Martin: It is hard to explain. It is something that awaits those that have been true to His word. It is a place where there is no sadness, and we finally realize we are all the same. Me: What do you think about the election of Barack Obama as president? Martin: I must confess even in heaven I was surprised and proud of him. I thought I saw God wink at me on that great election night. Me: If you could advise President Obama what would you say? Martin: I would tell him that he is in an unwinnable war, and that a thousand soldiers won’t matter. We have wasted America’s blood and treasure in places we should have never been. I would urge President Obama to cut the defense budget, and channel that money to alleviate the suffering of the poor both here and abroad.