Shawn M. Bediako, PhD, will give the 2020 Phillips-Winn Memorial Medicine Grand Rounds virtually 
at 12 p.m. on Fri., Nov. 20, 2020. This special Grand Rounds is sponsored by the Department of Medicine’s Minority Recruitment and Retention Committee (MRRC), Program for Women in Internal Medicine (PWIM), the division of Hematology, and the DOM Office of Faculty Development and Diversity.
Dr. Bediako will present “Sickle Cell Disease and the Science of Race.”
Bediako is the Director of the Office of Education (Division of Intramural Research) at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), where he and his team oversee the recruitment, retention, and scholarly development activities of trainees within the intramural labs. He earned his doctorate in social/health psychology from Stony Brook University and a MS in community psychology from Florida A&M University.
His research examines the ways in which stigma impacts the illness experience of adults living with sickle cell disease, the world's most common blood disorder. His current program of research uses intensive longitudinal methods to: (1) investigate causal associations between daily changes in stigma and its influence on sickle cell pain; and (2) evaluate epigenetic changes that occur from repeated stigmatization. To serve at NHLBI, he is currently on leave as Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
This commemorative Medicine Grand Rounds honors two Duke faculty, George Phillips, MD, and Michelle Winn, MD, who were champions of diversity, devoted mentors, and leaders in their respective fields.
George Phillips, MD, drove the creation of and then led the Duke-UNC Sickle Cell Center. In addition, he was the founder of the Department of Medicine Minority Recruitment Committee (later re-named MRRC). He is remembered as a skilled and compassionate clinician and as an outspoken advocate for human rights. He died in 1994 at the age of 39 years.
Michelle Winn, MD, was an outstanding scientist who contributed major breakthroughs in unraveling the causes of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a common cause of end stage kidney disease particularly in African Americans. She won the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, was inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and won the Duke Blue Ribbon Diversity Award. Winn was a devoted mentor to many, a skilled clinician, and chair of MRRC. She died in July 2014 at the age of 48 years.
For more information on Medicine Grand Rounds and how to connect, visit this page.