WSU Applebaum to host Black History Month panel on race and health education Feb. 22
The Wayne State University Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences presents a virtual panel discussion on race and health education featuring WSU Graduate School Dean and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Amanda Bryant-Friedrich; Vice Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Wayne State University School of Medicine Donovan Roy; and WSU Applebaum alumna and Beaumont Hospital Director of Pharmacy Sandra Taylor. Occupational Therapy Professor and Program Director Doreen Head will serve as moderator.
The panel will be held via Zoom on Tuesday, Feb. 22, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend this Black History Month event. When you RSVP, you'll have a chance to submit a question for the panel.
We will be discussing issues of race - in particular the Black experience - in both the classroom and clinic. How can we as a college identify, meet, and help resolve challenges facing Black students and faculty, from recruitment to belonging to feeling welcome, capable, safe and supported?
We are asking our community of students and faculty to anonymously submit their own experiences where race has tacitly or overtly impacted their health education or professional service. We will select several submissions to guide the panel's conversation.
Share your experiences by Feb. 15
During the event, the moderator will pose questions that relate to how we can avert (if negative) or nurture (if positive) such experiences at the college. We are looking for concrete action items, no matter how small, that we can all take responsibility for.
RSVP and submit a question for the panel
We hope you'll join us for this important conversation.
Meet the panelists
Dr. Amanda Bryant-Friedrich
Dr. Amanda Bryant-Friedrich is Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Wayne State University. Before joining Wayne State, she was a Professor of Medicinal and Biological Chemistry and Chemistry at the University of Toledo and served as Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. She was born and raised in northeastern North Carolina. Her early training was in organic chemistry at North Carolina Central University (B.S. 1990) and Duke University (M.S. 1992). She obtained her doctorate in Pharmaceutical Chemistry (Dr. rer. nat. 1997) at the Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany followed by postdoctoral training at the Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland (1997-1999). From 2000-2007 she held the positions of assistant and associate professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan before moving to the University of Toledo. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, The American Chemical Society and an Academic Leadership Fellow of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
Amanda makes it a priority to position herself to influence policies that negatively impact the admission of students of color in high demand programs and limit access to education for the socioeconomically disadvantaged around the world. She is an avid supporter for inclusion of diverse groups in the global scientific enterprise and works towards this objective through her involvement in the Society of STEM Women of Color and the American Chemical Society. She has been recognized for her efforts by receiving the 2014 Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences from the Central Region of the American Chemical Society, the 2015 Alice Skeens Outstanding Woman Award from the University of Toledo Women's Commission and was named a 2019 Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio and a Milestones Award Winner by the Northwest Ohio YMCA.
She is the current Vice Chair of the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Past Chair of ACS Multidisciplinary Planning Group and has served several roles in the ACS Division of Chemical Toxicology including Program Chair. In her community, she currently serves on the Boards of Maumee Valley Country Day School and The Imagination Station, a community science center, and was appointed by the Governor of the State of Ohio as an Ohio Lake Erie Commissioner.
Dr. Bryant-Friedrich is a scientist committed to the advancement of her discipline and improvement of quality of life for all individuals through science. Her primary research focus is to understand the mechanisms by which cancer and other diseases develop in the human body and to find ways to prevent these events or treatments to hinder disease progression. Her research efforts have included the training of over one hundred students at the high school, undergraduate and graduate levels.
Dr. Donovan Roy
Donovan Roy, Ed.D., is vice dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
With almost two decades of professional experience developing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on college campuses, Dr. Roy's strength and focus is on diversity and acceptance.
Dr. Roy joined Wayne State University in November 2021 from the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker, M.D., School of Medicine, where he served as assistant dean for Diversity and Inclusiveness. In that role, he was directly accountable for advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives. He consistently evaluated and safeguarded progressive impact on a number of the school's divisions, including curriculum with the Office of Medical Education, faculty development and recruiting with the Office of Faculty Affairs and the Office of Graduate Medical Education.
He led a team of leaders to create and introduce a strategic three-year plan dedicated to expanding diversity and inclusion, served as chair of the WMed Diversity and Inclusiveness Subcommittee, partnered with the Office of Health Equity and Community Affairs to establish monthly implicit and explicit bias training, and designed and implemented a recruitment database designed to guarantee diversity among staff, faculty and physicians.
He also has served as a learning consultant for Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, director of Academic Support Services for the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, a principal learning skills counselor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, and director of Multicultural Affairs at Wayne State College in Nebraska.
He has led bias and structural racism training, incorporated technology to expand diversity, equity and inclusion, and led training surrounding the traumas impacting underrepresented students. At Western Michigan University, he developed an Interprofessional Primary Care elective for third-and fourth-year medical students that support underserved communities.
At Keck School of Medicine, Dr. Roy developed tutorial programs to support students and improve student success, extending supplemental instruction to promote student engagement and success during their third and fourth years of medical training.
In addition to creating LGBTQIA-friendly environments and gender bias-free and religious expression spaces for students, Dr. Roy chaired the WMed and Association of American Medical Colleges Virtual High School and College Student-Athlete National Conference, advancing how medical schools recruit underrepresented populations in medicine. He was the co-principal investigator for two funds that created pathway programs for ethnically diverse students. He also secured a grant to develop the documentary, "The Role of Social Capital and Social Networks that support Black Males' Matriculation into Michigan Medical Schools."
Dr. Roy graduated from Wayne State College in Nebraska with a bachelor's degree in Human Services Counseling and a master's degree in Higher Education Counseling. He received his doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, with the dissertation "The Role of Social Capital and Networks in Supporting Black Males' Matriculation into Medical School."
Sandra Taylor
Sandra Taylor was born and raised in Detroit and is currently the Director of Pharmacy Services at Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak. She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy from Wayne State University and Master of Science degree in Finance from Walsh Business College.
She has served as a preceptor for the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience rotation for Wayne State University School of Pharmacy for several years as well as precepting students at the University of Michigan. She became a member of Lambda Kappa Sigma while receiving her education at Wayne State University. She is currently a board member on the Wayne State University Board of Advisors.
Taylor has held several leadership positions throughout her career, starting early as Supervisor of Pharmacy Operations at Sinai Grace Hospital (previously Grace Hospital and Mount Carmel Mercy Hospital). She continued her journey in management to Director of Pharmacy Operations at Vitalink Long Term Care Pharmacy Services and then later to Administrator of Clinical Operations & Pharmacy Services at Beaumont Hospital Wayne just prior to transitioning to her current role at Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak.
She has been awarded and recognized for her hard work and dedication to several professional organizations and is currently serving as a board member on the Michigan State Board of Pharmacy.
An anchor in urban health care
The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is built on more than 100 years of tradition and innovation in the heart of Detroit. We have grown deep roots in our city, harnessing its powerhouse hospital systems and community service organizations as vibrant, real-world training grounds for students, with an ongoing focus on social justice in health care. And our research at all levels - from undergraduates to veteran faculty members - translates into creative solutions for healthier communities.
Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering approximately 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 25,000 students.