NEWS (2015-2018)
Me with CSUDH grad and mentee Dr. Flower Austin who is now an Anesthesiologist
Academic year 2014-2015: I presented career development seminars to STEM students at Tougaloo College (Jackson, MS) and Savannah State University (Savannah GA), while also attending national conferences, e.g. National Association of Medical Minority Educators (NAMME) in Indianapolis, IN, the Health Disparities Conference (Long Beach, CA), the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) Conference in Los Angeles and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) in San Antonio, TX. At NAMME, I participated as the Director of the Western Region, and as such, a member of the Board whereas at ABRCMS, I led a session on biochemistry as a discipline for a choice as a career. During the Spring 2015 semester, I attended the WRNAAHP meeting in San Diego, in which the WRNAMME group met as well.
Academic year: 2015-2106: In Fall, I was on sabbatical writing a book, but also presented at seminars at Tougaloo College (Jackson, MS) and Winston Salem State University (Winston Salem NC) as well as attending the Annual Conferences of NAMME (Louisville, KY), SACNAS (National Harbor, MD) and ABRCMS (Seattle WA). In Spring 2016, I returned to teaching classes in biology, e.g. Senior Project, Endocrinology and Minority Health Disparities as well as advising pre-health students at CSUDH. In addition during this semester, I presented seminars to students at Virginia State University and participated in the 2016 Professional Development Conference at North Carolina A &T University.
Summer 2016: In June, I visited Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City in my role as Pre-health advisor and then attended the National Association of Advisors for Health Professions (NAAHP) Conference in Minneapolis MN where I presented a talk with Dr. Christina Goode (Western University of Health Professions) titled “The Three R’s of effectively addressing the underrepresentation of minorities: Resistance, Resiliency and Revolutionary”. In July, again in my role as Pre-health Advisor, I visited Life University Chiropractic University (Marietta GA) and then, in early August, Life College West Chiropractic.
Academic year: 2016: In September, I attended and presented a paper (with Dr. Christina Goode) at the Annual NAMME Conference on “Changing the Face of Faculty in the Health Professions”. Following that , I again visited Tougaloo College and talked to students about the “Paucity of Ethnic URMs in science and health” as well as presenting a talk on “Writing Effective Personal Statements”. I traveled to Winston Salem State University but this time talking to students and faculty in the School of Health about the “Issues Surrounding the Pipeline of URMs to Science Careers”. Also, during the Fall semester, I attended the SACNAS Conference in Long Beach, CA and the ABRCMS in Tampa FL while teaching three classes at CSUDH, i.e. BIO 490 Senior Project, BIO 254, Human Biology and BIO 386, Human Aging and advising pre-health students on preparation for their careers.
2017— On February 24, I visited Oakwood University (Huntsville, AL) to present a talk to the STEM students on “The underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in STEM and Health Sciences” in addition to meeting with faculty and student groups. On April 1-2, I attended The Endocrine Society Conference in Orlando FL where the latest findings and developments in the field of endocrinology were discussed. Next, I visited Benedict College in Columbia SC where I spoke to students across campus about “Making Necessary Changes in the Numbers of URMs in STEM and the Health Professions”. Additionally, I spoke to a biology class about ” Choosing a Career”. With the beginning of the 2017Fall semester, I visited Tougaloo College (Jackson, MS) where I spoke to students about the “Preparation of Personal Statements” as well as a talk on “Minority Health Disparities”. I then attended the NAMME Conference (9/20-23) as the Western Region NAMME Director where I also made a presentation on “Changing the Underrepresentation of Ethic Minorities in the Health Professions”. During the month of October, I attended the SACNAS Conference in Salt Lake City (UT) followed by my participation as part of a Pre-health Advisors visit to UAG in Guadalajara, MX. Then, in early November, I attended ABRCMS in Phoenix, AZ.
On campus at CSUDH, I was honored by receiving the 2017 CSUDH Presidential Advisor of the Year Award!
2018—- In January, I traveled to Madrid, Spain as a participant in a Pre-health Advisor’s tour sponsored by the Atlantis Project, as several of my students had been part of the Atlantis Shadowing Program in the past. I then participated in the Sherman College of Chiropractic Weekend event in Spartanburg, SC as an Advisor and Guest of the President to learn more about opportunities for my Pre-health students interested in Chiropractic. For similar reasons, I spent a day in February at Palmer College of Chiropractic as one of several Pre-health Advisors. In between those visits (2/19), I visited North Carolina Central University (Durham, NC) where I gave two lectures to students and faculty on diversity and inclusion issues in STEM. In early May, I presented a talk with Dr. Christina Goode from Western University School of Health Sciences on the issue of under representation of ethnic minorities in the health sciences at the Mt. Sac Symposium. Then, in early summer, 6/27-30, I attended the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAHP) Conference in Washington, DC. At the beginning of the Fall semester of the academic school year (9/26), I presented talks at Tougaloo College in Jackson MS on “Choosing a career after graduation” and specifically also working on students’ personal statements. Not long after that (9/20-23) I presented along with Dr. Goode at the National Association of Minority Medical Educators (NAMME) Conference in Miami, FL on the issues of successfully addressing the under representation of ethnic minorities in the health professions. Then in October (10/11-13), I attended the annual Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) Conference in San Antonio, TX. Just prior to the SACNAS Conference, I lost a dear and trusted friend and colleague as Dr. Frank Talamantes passed. Frank and I had been best friends for 40 + years and I, like many others in the academic community, lost a true advocate for students, especially under represented minorities. His memory and contributions will never be forgotten. Similarly, when attending the ABRCMS Conference in November, his loss was felt.
2019-– In early March, I visited Huntsville AL where on 3/14 I was able to spend time with Dean Waddell at UAHuntsville and then presented a talk to students at Oakwood University on March 15, speaking about the role of Minority Health Disparities now and in the future for US Healthcare. Following this visit, I participated in a panel at a Student Development session at North Carolina A & T in Greensboro NC, which was designed to assist students in future careers in STEM. To finish the month, I attended the ENDO 2019 Meetings in New Orleans, specifically to participate in the Minority Mentoring session sponsored by the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, which is the current name for the original Minority Affairs Committee (MAC) which I started in the Society 25 years ago! Next I traveled as a speaker at the Research Development Day at Winston-Salem State University in April followed by presenting a talk on the under representation of ethnic minorities at the WAAHP Conference held in Salt Lake City. Then, in summer, I participated in an Advisors’ visit sponsored by the Atlantis Project, this time in Lisbon, Portugal.Finally, in August, I visited the new location of Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) in Barbados, along with my co-Prehealth Advisor, Dr. Patrick Still and five CSUDH students. This was the result of an MOU signed between RUSM and CSUDH as part of an initiative on the part of RUSM to increase the number of URM students by RUSM joining with a number of HBCUs and HSIs.
EVENTS
Professional Events
Pre-health Advisor’s Tours
Professional schools often have tours of their facilities and local area for pre-health Advisors so that Advisors can more accurately recommend the schools to their students. This is true with some Osteopathic (DO) and Podiatry (DPM) schools as many times students do not have a full understanding of these professions but this is especially true for “off shore schools”, e.g. Caribbean medical and veterinary schools because they are “off shore” and of course accreditation, board passage rates and residency placement are concerns.
As such, in recent years I have had the opportunity to visit a number of these institutions, including St. George’s Medical and Veterinary schools in Grenada, Ross Veterinary school in St. Kitts and the Ross Medical School (RUSM) in Dominica, the American University of Antigua (AUA), and the American University of the Caribbean (AUC). In August 2015, I revisited RUSM in Dominica and, in June 2017, I revisited the SGU Medical and Veterinary Schools in Grenada. As mentioned, I was part of a group of Pre-health Advisors who visited Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara in Guadalajara, MX. Most recently, I was part of a team of CSUDH faculty and students to visit the new location of RUSM in Barbados. Finally, as mentioned, I have also accompanied advisors as part of the Atlantis Project trips to Madrid Spain and Lisbon, Portugal.
During such visits, advisors meet with faculty, administration and, most importantly, students as well as viewing facilities, resources, etc. In addition, as mentioned, the schools also provide a tour of the Island since adapting to living on the islands is often a major adjustment for many US students. With this experience and information, I am then able to advise students based on direct contact as to strengths, weaknesses, etc. As a result, I have advised my students accordingly and, in fac,t have had several students attend and graduate from selected Caribbean schools.
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Contact Me » tom@thomaslandefeld.com 
