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Rubens Pamies, M.D. |
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Frank Peak |
The UNMC/The Nebraska Medical Center Employee Diversity Network’s 2005 Black History presentation on “Reflections on Health Care and the African American Experience” will feature Rubens Pamies, M.D., UNMC vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean for graduate studies, and Frank T. Peak, MPA, project administrator for community outreach services at Creighton University Medical Center. The program will open with a special performance by the Omaha North High School Men’s Choir.
Dr. Pamies joined the UNMC faculty in September 2003, bringing a nationally acclaimed reputation for his expertise as a clinician and knowledge on health disparities among America’s underrepresented communities. He is co-editor, along with former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., of a book on health disparities that is due for publication later this year.
Dr. Pamies has brought an expanded emphasis on developing more long-term plans to provide more minority students opportunities to attend UNMC. Building on the affiliation UNMC had previously established with Dillard University, one of the nation’s leading historically black colleges and universities, Dr. Pamies has been instrumental, along with UNMC’s Office of Student Equity and Multicultural Affairs, in establishing formal affiliations with all five HBCU’s in the state of Virginia, and soon will include HBCU’s Spelman College, Morehouse College and others.
A native of New York City, Dr. Pamies has been involved in academic medicine for 16 years. From 1989 to 1992, he served at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, where he held the position of director and founder of the minority affairs division.
He moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1992 to join the medical staff of Mount Sinai Medical Center as chief of the division of general internal medicine and as assistant professor at Case Western University School of Medicine. At Case Western, he was named associate dean for academic programs in 1994, associate professor in 1995 and associate dean for student affairs in 1996.
In 2000, Dr. Pamies was named professor and chairman of the department of internal medicine at Meharry Medical College and chief of service for the department of internal medicine at Metropolitan Nashville General Hospital. In 2001, he was appointed professor of medicine for Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Dr. Pamies earned his undergraduate degree from St. John’s University in New York, N.Y., in 1981 and his medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine, in 1986. He did his internal medicine residency at Cornell-North Shore University Hospital in New York City, and a fellowship with the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) Health Services Research Institute. The fellowship provided mentoring to 25 minority junior faculty to help them prepare for careers in academic medicine and allow them to do outcomes research.
Frank Peak has a long history of community activism and leadership in health and human services initiatives. He is the co-founder and president/CEO of Nebraska Ethnics Together Working On Reaching Kids, Inc., (a Nebraska non-profit prevention leadership organization addressing substance abuse and other high-risk behavioral issues for youth and communities of color in particular and all youth in general); co-founder and co-chairperson of the North Omaha Family Preservation Team, Inc, and past project coordinator for Infants and Babies Project (“CRIB,” a child-health advocacy initiative between Creighton University, the Bureau of Primary Health Care, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Nebraska’s Children and Families).
He serves as president of the Board of Directors for New Creations Transitional Living, Inc. (a million dollar plus apartment complex and program providing transitional living and services for homeless persons in recovery). He is the president of the Nebraska Minority Public Health Association, chairman of the Health Committee of the Omaha Branch of the NAACP; and developed and implemented the Juneteenth African American Prostate Cancer Screening Project in conjunction with the North Omaha church community.
Peak also is a member of the Minority Health Advisory Committee of the Nebraska Health and Human Services System Office of Minority Health; Urban League of Nebraska Board Health Sub-committee, Douglas County Board of Health, the Omaha Perinatal Collaborative Baby Blossom’s Core Group, SIDS Risk Reduction Group, and Our Healthy Community Partnership.
He is an honorably discharged Vietnam Veteran who served eight years in the United States Navy before returning home and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism/psychology and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
The Omaha North High School Men’s Choir is one of several ensembles created by the North High Musical Department. Choir Director Pat Rebar said it’s the third year for the Men’s Choir. The choir includes 17 young men and was inspired by the internationally acclaimed Boys Choir of Harlem. The Boys Choir of Harlem is as famous for the successful life outcomes of its former members as it is for its singing.
The North High group was developed with similar goals – create a positive educational experience for predominately African American males with an emphasis on academics, personal responsibility and cooperative endeavor. The choir sings pop, jazz and gospel songs and recently performed at Grandview College in Des Moines, Iowa, and at a jazz choir and vocalist competition sponsored by Bellevue University.
The program is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Walter Brooks at 559-5768.