What is your specialty, and why did you decide to choose it?
Ambulatory care is what I did my residency in. But since then I have worked in every setting that is offered in the pharmaceutical profession, including long-term care, hospital and pharmaceutical industry. I found that I preferred ambulatory care to the hospital setting because I have the opportunity to work with people on a long-term basis and provide counsel on how to use drugs. I can examine behavioral changes and lifestyle, such as what they eat, their exercise patterns, stress and high-risk behaviors. For people whom you see regularly, you can address these issues.

Right now, I own four companies, including:

• Co-owner, Total Diabetes Care, a certified education center
   
• Total Lifestyle Change, a nonprofit organization that provides nationwide outreach and education for the medically underserved. We have the opportunity to speak at national conventions and work in communities.
   
• Healing Our Village, which provides an innovative education delivery system through the use of broadcast media. We have just produced a television show, which we are hoping to premiere on a cable network in Los Angeles. The show, which focuses on diabetes, features medical experts, as well as a cooking segment. This concept was derived from a book that I co-authored with Dr. James Gavin, president of Morehouse University, called Healing Our Village. We have just begun to scratch the surface to address the health care problem. The reality is that people die every day. And that's because the people who are uninsured are not putting their health on the front burner. People seek out care when they are motivated or sick. Healing Our Village is about prevention and wellness. We want to reach out to people who may be okay today, but may be at risk because of family history or other factors. One of the most effective ways to reach this population is through cable programming. We have found that even the poorest people manage to have cable. We want to get the couch potatoes off the couch. We'd like to take the cablecast to the Webcast. Ideally it will reach millions of people. And if they make a decision not to change, at least it's an informed choice. The show will address other health topics such as obesity, heart disease, asthma and HIV/AIDS.
   
• blackandbrownsugar.com, a Web site that provides diabetes education.

I am committed to make a difference with everything that I do. My pastor died in the pulpit on September 6, my birthday, of a heart attack. I want to help people like him. Anything in my direct control, I am going to try to make an impact.

Prior to going out on my own and establishing these companies, I worked for Bayer Pharmaceutical as a clinical science specialist, focused on diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

How long have you been involved in the profession?
Twenty-four years. I graduated from the University of California, San Francisco in 1979.

What is the one goal that you have set for yourself relative to your career?
I have put together a mission and a vision to eliminate chronic disease. We need to get rid of it. We need to educate the underserved populations so they know how all this fits together. I have had the opportunity to go out and talk to people who may have had diabetes for 12 years. They tell me that no one ever told it the way I just said it to them. They had no idea how their meds worked; no idea of the side effects.

I take an interactive approach. I tell them what they want to know. I make sure I figure it out from the beginning. There are a lot of medical lectures that are way above their heads in terms of the terminology. There are many people who are low literate. I talk about things that are doable, instead of losing a certain percentage of body fat, I present it as you need to lose 10 pounds. I help to set realistic goals for people.

What do you like best about working in the pharmaceutical field?
I love what I do. I just think pharmacy is a wonderful profession. We are the glue that holds health care together. Unfortunately there have been a lot of changes over the last 10 years. The work level has increased, but the number of pharmacists has decreased. We can help doctors so much in prescribing the right medications, determining the right doses and making sure patients are using medications correctly.

I love to be able to talk to people, help persuade them and impact their lives. I see our role as physician extenders.

What are your most proud accomplishments in your profession? In your life?
My book, Healing Our Village, co-authored with Dr. Gavin, is my most proud accomplishment. I am now working on a nutrition book, and have ideas in the works for books on prostate cancer and HIV/AIDS.

In my life, it is my children.

What goes through your mind before you go to work each day?
I focus on whom I need to call to get them on board. Who are the power brokers? Who's controlling health care today? I figure out ways to reach out to people. We spend so much money on health care in the United States, yet there are still so many sick people. Things aren't getting better. We still have so much to figure out. I think about how I can reach out to people who are controlling health care and get them to partner with me on their vision.

What is your favorite part of the day?
Midday from 12 to 3 p.m. is when I have my most energy.

What, if any, barriers or challenges have you personally had to overcome?
I had to overcome the most barriers early on in my career. That was early 60s. It was rough being African American and a woman. I remember a girl coming to the counter asking if she could speak to the pharmacist. When the person behind the counter pointed at me, she looked right past me.

Personally, I had to overcome the challenge of my husband passing at age 38 of colon cancer when I was four months' pregnant. That was another reason why health care prevention became so important to me. He didn't know that he had cancer then. I had to raise two kids by myself.

Most of my profession I have been blessed. People have always offered me jobs along the way. I believe that my path has been ordered, and the Lord is moving me along the way.

Are there challenges within the profession? If so, what are they?
In pharmacy, there are a lot of challenges, particularly with the way health care changed with managed care and downsizing. The pharmacy was the first department in every system to get hit. I remember working at Methodist Hospital in California when there were 55 people on pharmacy staff. Today there are 18. Now pharmacists are in the basements filling prescriptions, when they used to be making rounds on the floors just like the doctors. The decrease in funding has really hurt. Pharmacy can be a difficult profession. Some have to fill in excess of 500 prescriptions a day. To be accurate and fill all of these can be very stressful.

There also is a lot of fragmentation in the industry as a whole with the splitting up of so many associations. There is no longer one voice for the profession as a whole.

How do you address health care disparities among minority populations within your profession?
That's what I do each day through education and community health screenings. Every town I go out to I detect so much disease. It's so important because if people don't know that they are sick, then they will not be motivated to change. Some of the screenings that we offer include height/weight, body fat, blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol and medication reviews.

After the screenings, we make sure the medical team provides exit interviews with each participant. We then follow up by sending articles of particular interest in relation to the detected medical condition, and we offer telemedicine to be sure each individual has the proper information.

Who is/are your role model(s) or mentor(s)?
Dr. James Gavin is one my most important role models. He has really made a huge difference in health care. Dr. Satcher also has made a tremendous impact on the medical profession. In college, two of my mentors were Bill Gall, my residency preceptor, and Mary Ann Kota-Kemble, who was instrumental in helping me get into the diabetes circuit.

What are your plans for the future?
My goals are lofty. I would like Healing Our Village (HOV) to become the watermark for people nationwide, like a stamp of approval. We would designate HOV doctors who provide good care; HOV recognition in restaurants that provide healthy choices; HOV corporate partners who are offering community outreach and screening. It takes all of us to heal the village. Everyone needs to wake up each day and think about how they can keep their kids healthy.

What words of wisdom do you have for students just graduating?

• Do not accept mediocrity.
   
• Do not accept being average.
   
• Achieve excellence.
   
• Give back and integrate community-based outreach as part of your profession.
   
• Become advocates for families.
   
• Never listen to what you can't do and focus on what you can do.

One of my favorite quotes from Horace Williams is: "I never see the trees. I always look past the forest."

In pharmacy, if you are innovative and creative, you can carve your own niche. I have always been a pioneer. I have been able to carve what hasn't been there.

What do you like to do in your spare time (hobbies, interests, sports, travel, volunteering)?
I like to ski and participate in water sports, like waterskiing and scuba diving. I love music and to dance. I have been working a lot in 2004, but my goal for 2005 is to have more fun.