The Annual Hylton Health Care Presentation

The W. Oscar and Daisy W. Hylton Science and Premedical Endowment sponsors three important activities at Roanoke College: (1) campus presentations on science and medicine, (2) the campus pre-medical program, and (3) undergraduate student research in the sciences.           

Dr. Stephanie Harper, MD, MPP, delivered the Fourth Annual Hylton Health Care Presentation on March 26th, 2009.  Dr. Stephanie Lynne Harper is the Health Director for the Roanoke City and the Alleghany Health Districts. In this capacity she directs all medical, nursing, environmental and administrative public health services in Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Botetourt County, Craig County, Alleghany County, and the cities of Covington and Salem. She utilizes an interdisciplinary staff with efforts directed towards quality patient care, case management and care coordination, environmental protection, community assessment and health education, program design, program evaluation and resource allocation.

Dr. Stephanie Harper is a native of Washington, D.C. She attended the public school in there before going to Atlanta, Georgia to attend Spelman College where she graduated with a Bachelors of Science. After college, Dr. Harper moved to Boston, Massachusetts where she attended Harvard Medical School. She also attended Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and while there, she was awarded a Kennedy Fellowship. In 1994 she graduated from Harvard with a Medical Doctorate (MD) and a Masters of Public Policy (MPP). She remained at Harvard Medical School and completed residency and fellowship training.

After completing her formal training she worked as a private practitioner and an academic professor at Howard University. Dr. Harper served in the District of Columbia Government as the Chief of the Bureau of Chronic Disease Control, providing oversight and direction for chronic disease programs serving DC residents. She has also served as the President of a Community Development Corporation serving a historically underserved area.

Dr. Harper joined the Roanoke and Alleghany area 2.5 years ago with a commitment to providing services that add value to the community. The health department accomplishes this through direct service delivery and by partnering with community members, local officials, government and non-governmental agencies and private industry to provide support to Health District Residents. Dr. Harper serves on various boards and committees, efforts that are aligned with the mission of the Virginia Department of Health which is To Promote and Protect the Health of All Virginians. In addition to her official Health Department responsibilities, she is a physician volunteer at The Bradley Free Clinic.                     

Dr. Cynda A. Johnson, MD, MBA, delivered the Third Annual Hylton Health Care Presentation on March 10, 2008.  Dr. Johnson is Founding Dean of the Virginia Tech-Carilion Clinic College of Medicine that will be located in the City of Roanoke.  Dr. Johnson earned her B.A. degree at Stanford University in 1973 (graduating Phi Beta Kappa), her MD degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine in 1977, and her MBA from the University of Missouri, Kansas City in 1999.  She has served as Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Clinic and Translational Research and Dean of the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University; Chairwoman of the Department of Family Medicine, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa; and in a variety of teaching positions at the University of Kansas Medical Center and at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

In 2007 Dr. Johnson was selected to be the Founding Dean of the College of Medicine being planned by Virginia Tech University and Carilion Clinic.  She is one of only 16 female deans at the nation's 126 accredited medical schools.  During the next couple of years, she will lead the development of the medical school including the crafting of its curriculum and recruiting its student body.  She describes the school's mission as being "inquiry, research, and discovery."  The school will enroll its first class in 2010.

Michael A. Gillette, PhD, delivered the second Hylton Health Care Presentation on April 3, 2007. Dr. Gillette is President of Biomedical Ethics Services of Virginia, Inc. and through the University of Virginia is Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Lynchburg Family Practice Residency. He is a graduate of Brandeis University, where he majored in philosophy and classical Greek and earned Phi Beta Kappa honors, and he received his Masters and Doctorate in philosophy at Brown University. Through his focus on medical ethics, he has assisted several hospitals, long-term care facilities, medical schools, mental health facilities, community-based service providers, and mental retardation facilities. Addressing The Process of Clinical Ethics, Dr. Gillette shared several fascinating case studies with the audience and worked with the audience in determining how ethical decisions should be made.

Picture: From left, Lien-Thanh Kratzke, '07; Dr. Michael Gillette; and Matt Bryant, '08, Students Interested in Health Careers President 2006-07.

Munsey S. Wheby, MD, MACP, '51 served as the inaugural Hylton Health Care Presentation speaker on April 11, 2006. Dr. Wheby is Professor of Internal Medicine and Senior Associate Dean of the School of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Virginia. He graduated from Roanoke College, earned his MD from the University, held clinical positions at the Tropical Research Medical Laboratory in Puerto Rico and at Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C., is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and has spent much of his career at the University of Virginia. Dr. Wheby gave a very inspirational presentation on Compassion in Medicine.