Make those connections. That’s the advice Charles-Anthony Woodfork, a senior American Heart Association HBCU scholar who is studying food and nutritional science, gives to his fellow Aggie students.
Woodfork is also president and co-founder of the student organization Men’s Roundtable in Biology (M.R. Biology), and he speaks from experience. Through his connections, Woodfork was able to make a tour of medical schools for M.R. Biology members into reality recently.
He discussed with Jordan Cohen, M.S., an instructor in the College of Science and Technology, and drew from his contacts at the association, where he also worked as an intern for its health equity team last summer.
“I knew the AHA provided grants and they were very big on student success, but I didn’t know if they would do it,” he said. Despite his uncertainty, Woodfork approached Pamela Gorman Johnson, a senior vice president with whom he had worked, to see if she knew of any organizations that would give grants to student organizations.
“Well, how much do you need?” she asked him. After giving her a rough estimate, Gorman Johnson told Woodfork to come up with a potential budget and itinerary. Ultimately, Garmon Johnson joined Woodfork in pitching the idea to the rest of the AHA health equity team, which then approved the $8,5000 grant.
Woodfork also reached out to another AHA contact, Joey Barnett, Ph.D., professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Barnett put him in touch with four cardiovascular medicine fellows at Vanderbilt Medical Center, who facilitated a tour there for the group.
Meanwhile, Cohen contacted Meharry Medical College, one the oldest and largest historically Black medical schools, where he was an alumnus. This resulted in an invitation to tour the college and Meharry Hospital.
The group — thirteen students and two advisors — traveled to Nashville, Tenn., from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, to take the tours and speak with several doctors about their journey in the medical field. The group also explored Nashville, including the National Museum of African American Music.
The experience reinforced life lessons that Woodfork, an honors student and Dowdy scholar, said he’s learned at N.C. A&T.
“One of the biggest phrases I’ve learned since I’ve been at A&T is: ‘Your network is your net worth,’ ” Woodfork said.
“Of course, it’s important to be technically proficient, to know what you're doing and to be good at what you do,” he said. “But in that same vein, it’s very important to be connected to people, places and organizations that can support you and that can help you.”
Other students and faculty who took part in the trip include: Donovan Garner, George Babineaux, Aaron McBride, Khalil McKoy and Micah Downs, all senior biology students; Brandon Artis, Dristen Lakes, Nigel Belcher and Jordan Speller, all junior biology students; Eric (Dre) Ford and Justin Fraser, sophomore biology students; Khari Harriday, junior kinesiology student; and advisers Cohen and Demetrius Booker, M.S., biology instructor.
