“The History of the Desegregation of the School of Medicine”
Event Description: Edwin McCleskey, PhD, science officer at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, served on the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine from 1986-1993. His research addressed the biophysical properties of calcium-selective ion channels and the discovery of ion channels that trigger different types of pain. He also taught physiology and neuroscience.
During his tenure at the Medical Campus, Dr. McCleskey began a research project entitled “The Desegregation History Project.” A timeline detailing the history of desegregation at the School of Medicine, and accompanying institutional challenges that African American students, faculty and staff members faced, emerged from the data. His findings were derived from historical documents, as well as interviews with individuals such as James L. Sweatt III, MD, the first African American graduate of the School of Medicine; Robert Lee, PhD, the first assistant dean of minority student affairs, now the Office of Diversity Programs, at the School of Medicine; Ella Brown, the Head Nurse at the Homer G. Phillips at the time it closed; and Dr. Julian Mosley, the second African American graduate the School of Medicine.
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