The Bio-Medical Library is hosting the installation of "Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons" for the months of June and July. This exhibit is the joint effort of the National Library of Medicine and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture (Baltimore) and is traveling to various venues around the country.   More extensive information about the exhibit can be found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/aframsurgeons/travel.html.

The exhibit is on view on the 2nd floor of the Bio-Medical Library, which is located in Dieh Hall. Exhibit hours are during normal library hours.

In addition to the exhibit, there will be a public program entitled "Opening Doors: Minorities and Health" on June 25, 2008 at 4:00pm in the Mayo Auditorium. The presenters will be Medical School Dean Deborah E. Powell speaking about the new initiatives to recruit under-represented groups.  Dr. Selwyn Vickers, Chair of Surgery, will speak of his experiences, and the final presenter will be Dr. Levi Watkins, Professor of Surgery and Associate Dean of the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Watkins was the first African American to be accepted to and graduate from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and the first black resident in cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins.  He performed the world's first human implantation of the automatic implantable defibrillator, and helped to develop the cardiac arrhythmia service at Hopkins.  The son of a college professor, he grew up in Montgomery, Alabama during the civil rights era.  He was a member of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King was pastor.

The presentations will be followed by a reception in the auditorium and all are welcome.