More than 70 minority middle school and high school students are expected to attend the sixth annual Stepping Forward/Reaching Back youth mentoring seminar on Wednesday, Sept. 14, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at UNMC.
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Tony Gates |
The program, founded by LeDon Bean, a doctoral student in UNMC Biomedical Research Training Program, is designed to give students a closer look at what it takes to pursue a career in the biomedical health professions and the necessity of a college degree. Because proficiency in math and science is critical to the health sciences, each student is personally selected for the seminar by school counselor based upon proven academic records.
The program, sponsored by UNMC’s Office of Student Equity and Multicultural Affairs, will be packed with a series of presentations by UNMC researchers, faculty members and staff. Speakers include: John McClain, Ph.D., associate vice chancellor for academic affairs; Diane Allen-Gipson, Ph.D., instructor, pulmonary, critical care, sleep and allergy; Tracy Harrison, PAC; Wayne Tate, Pharm. D., hematology oncology; Alicia Cleveland, doctoral student in genetics, cell biology and anatomy; and Oluwatoyin Asojo, Ph.D., assistant professor, Eppley Institute.
After Gate’s keynote address, the students will have lunch with UNMC students and staff and take a one-hour tour of the campus.
“We are looking forward to another outstanding workshop,” Bean said. “This program gets bigger each year and really gives these excellent students an up-front and personal look at how they, too, can see themselves as doctors, researchers and a host of health-related professionals.
“We are also proud to bring Tony Gates as our special guest speaker. He is very well known for his years of support to so many community projects and activities. Pfizer is a giant pharmaceutical corporation, but Gates continues to be a very human and socially caring face of this company. From community health fairs, educational forums, HIV/AIDS support programs, and so many more venues, Pfizer and Tony Gates have consistently been available for support.”
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LeDon Bean founded the youth mentoring seminar six years ago. |
Fluent in five languages – Italian, German, Turkish, Spanish and English – Gates has been twice selected for promotion to international positions with Pfizer. He previously managed and trained newly hired Pfizer representatives from a number of U.S. divisions and Puerto Rico in both product knowledge and professional conduct. He continues that leadership as manager of district operations today, including hiring, coaching and ongoing skill and capability development.
Gates is a 1981 graduate of the United States Academy at West Point. He received a bachelor’s of science degree in engineering with a concentration in Spanish. He served 11 years in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of major. Today he is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. Gates served as an Airborne Ranger artillery officer specializing in tactical nuclear weapons. During his military career, Gates was twice hand-selected for responsibilities normally give to much more senior officers.
He received his master’s degree in public administration from Troy State University’s European campus in Vicenza, Italy, in 1992 before leaving the military and joining Pfizer, Inc. that same year in Chicago, Ill., as a sales representative. He earned all of the leading sales awards in the next four years and was asked to help launch a new sales division in St. Louis, Mo. In less than 18 months, he was promoted to training manager and then district manager and transferred to Omaha.
Since coming to Omaha, Gates has become deeply involved with fighting health disparities. He chairs the health committee on the board of directors of the Urban League of Nebraska and also is a member of the Black Executive Exchange Program (BEEP). He works closely with UNMC’s Community Partnership and the advisory panel of UNMC’s Minority Health, Education and Research Organization (MiHERO).
He is regularly consulted with by members of the Black Family Health and Wellness Association, North Branch Health Coalition, Chicano Awareness Center, Nebraska State Office of Minority Health and 100 Black Men of Omaha. He also sits on the board of directors of the Nebraska AIDS Project, West Point Society of Nebraska and Western Iowa, INROADS and All Our Kids, Inc. He sits on Mayor Mike Fahey’s City Planning Board and also on the board of governors for the Omaha Symphony.
Gates awards scholarships on behalf of Pfizer for minority students attending the UNMC College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Nebraska at Omaha. He created an internship program at Creighton University School of Business Administration whereby he hires highly motivated minority students for a semester, gives them Pfizer training and work as health care representative with full salary and perks and academic credit at the end of the semester.