What: Exhibit: Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons
Where: Bio-Medical Library, Diehl Hall
When: Through July 31, 2008
Free and open to the public.

This exhibit is the joint effort of the National Library of Medicine and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture (Baltimore).

What: Presentation to accompany "Opening Doors" exhibit
Where: Mayo Auditorium
When: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 • 4 p.m.
Free and open to the public.

The presenters will be Medical School Dean Powell speaking about the new initiatives to recruit under-represented groups. Dr. Selwyn Vickers, Chair of Surgery, will speak of his experiences, and the final presenter will be Dr. Levi Watkins, Professor of Surgery and Associate Dean of the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Watkins was the first African American to be accepted to and graduate from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and the first black resident in cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins. He performed the world's first human implantation of the automatic implantable defibrillator, and helped to develop the cardiac arrhythmia service at Hopkins. The son of a college professor, he grew up in Montgomery, Alabama during the civil rights era and was a member of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King was pastor.

The presentations will be followed by a reception and all are welcome. Sessions will be introduced by Linda Watson, Health Sciences Libraries Director.