DAB Events
Diversity Advisory Board
Diversity Statement
DAB Members
DAB Endowed Scholarship Fund
“Celebrating a History of Diversity” -- On May 2007, five African–American health care professionals were honored at the first “Celebrating a History of Diversity” event at the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS). While the event celebrated the cultural and ethnic diversity of all EACPHS alumni and friends, the award presentation focused specific attention on EACPHS graduates who had made significant contributions in the professions of Pharmacy and Mortuary Science. Honorees were:
Sidney Barthwell, Sr., (Pharm ‘29) founder of what remains the largest chain of black-owned drugstores in the United States. (deceased)
James H. Cole, Jr. (Mort Sci ‘50), James H. Cole Home for Funerals, the oldest black-owned funeral home in Detroit. (deceased)
Percy R. McClain, Sr., (Pharm ’69), hospital pharmacist and administrator, 20-year adjunct faculty member at Wayne State University, and Public Health Pharmacy Administrator, City of Detroit, from 1990 until his death in December 1995.
Raymond E. Cantrell (Mort Sci ’52), founder and president of Cantrell Funeral Home, Detroit.
Elizabeth Green-Wize (Pharm ’41), registered pharmacist and founder and former president of Physicians Drug Center, Inc. and former EACPHS board member.
In October 2008, the second annual “Celebrating a History of Diversity” brought the Honorable Dennis W. Archer, former mayor for the City of Detroit and chair for the Detroit-based law firm of Dickinson Wright, to lead a conversation on diversity. The event also honored the contributions of five alumni and friends who are trailblazers in their health sciences professions. Honored were Prudentia Worth, director of the EACPHS Nurse Anesthesia program; the late Bernard Thomas Downs, pharmacist from Detroit General Hospital; Mabel Sharp, owner/physical therapist of Healthcare Alternatives, Southfield; Velma Lewis Ward, retired assistant director of the Clinical Laboratory at the former Lafayette Clinic, Detroit; and O'Neil D. Swanson, Sr., president and founder of Swanson Funeral Homes, Inc., Detroit. Proceeds ($15,000) from the event went into an endowed scholarship to further diversity within our college's pharmacy and health sciences programs.
“Apple Days” – This program exposes Detroit Public School (DPS) middle and high school students to diverse health sciences careers. It provides an opportunity to educate beyond the traditional classroom. The fun, fast-paced educational event is designed to offer interactive exercises, led by EACPHS students and faculty, in various pharmacy and health sciences programs. Students from five DPS middle schools are invited in the spring and students from five DPS high schools are hosted in the fall.
“Apple Days” was inaugurated on April 15, 2008. The half-day program exposed approximately 80 students with interests in science to careers in Anatomic Pathology, Nurse Anesthesia, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, and Physical Therapy. The students participating in the first “Apple Days” program were from Detroit’s Bates Academy, Bethune Duffield School, Golightly Educational Center, Malcolm X Academy, and Paul Roberson Academy.
For more information: http://cphs.wayne.edu/appledays.php