An Opportunity to Meet an Obligation
William B. Applegate, M.D., M.P.H.
Acting President and Dean
Academic medicine has an opportunity to do something on a par with the historic movements that led to civil and voting rights for minorities. It is time to solve the problem of racial and ethnic health disparities. Wake Forest University School of Medicine is poised to make its contribution to this national challenge through the Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health.
The great civil and voting rights struggles each started on a small scale and, because of the moral earnestness underpinning the cause, gradually built into a compelling truth. We don’t pretend that the Angelou Center and Wake Forest will solve the health disparities challenge alone. What we do intend, however, is to be among the leaders to address the problem and to contribute in ways that ultimately will help make a difference.
I believe that the medical profession over the last 20 years has gradually, almost silently, lost much of the leadership stature it held with the American public. By doing our part to solve the health disparities problem, we can also begin the process of renewing medicine’s social contract with America. As the seat of virtually all the major scientific achievements of modern medicine, academic medical centers have contributed much to the well-being of society. We are poised to add to our admirable record by helping society turn the corner on a public policy issue with an undeniable moral dimension. We are under no illusions. It won’t be easy. But it is the right thing to do.
What more compelling voice to give credence to this cause than Maya Angelou’s? Both her riveting personal story and her remarkable achievements in the American arts are testimony that we can overcome great obstacles. Dr. Angelou, Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest for more than 20 years, gives us confidence—that we can do our part, and that it is a part that we must play.
The pieces are coming together. We are bringing Wake Forest University’s considerable expertise to bear against the health disparities that are not only a burden but a moral blight on our nation. Maya Angelou’s voice, cajoles and reminds us that “In minor ways we differ, in major we’re the same/I note the obvious differences between each sort and type,/But we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.
Won’t you join us in this effort? It’s the right thing to do. But it will take all of us working together.
Thank you for supporting the Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health.