Courtesy of Morehouse School of Medicine
Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) today published the latest edition of its “Danforth Dialogues” podcast, featuring a “deep dive” into the medical school’s innovative research programs during a conversation between MSM’s President and CEO Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, Senior Vice President for External Partnerships and Innovation Dr. Sandra Harris-Hooker, and Dr. Rick Kittles, Senior Vice President for Research.
“The COVID-19 pandemic raised awareness of the continuing health disparities in communities of color and the need to invest in more research to address those disparities,” said Dr. Montgomery Rice. “Since our inception, Morehouse School of Medicine has been on the frontlines of medical research to help improve health outcomes for African Americans, Latinos, and other underserved communities in the country.”
Dr. Harris-Hooker, who headed MSM’s research program before assuming her new role, noted that the school’s research efforts were modest during its early years as a two-year institution. “We started with a portfolio that was, at best, $300,000 to $400,000,” she said. “Today, we have a comprehensive and robust research program. We ended our last fiscal year with well over $84 million in research projects.”
Dr. Kittles is one of the country’s leading genetics researchers and is known for his pioneering work in tracing African American ancestry though DNA testing. “Honored and humbled,” to be in his new role, Dr. Kittles noted in the podcast the unique role for medical research at Historically Black Medical Schools to help improve health equity in communities of color.
“It is our responsibility as individuals who came from these communities to go back and serve and improve the health of our communities,” he said. “Very few investigators outside of our communities can do that.”
Launched earlier this year, Danforth Dialogues focuses on the leadership lessons from the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic and their broader implication for society. Named after the historic Danforth Chapel on the Morehouse College campus, the podcast series features a cross-section of guests and topics.
