Marshall Magazine Summer 2022

PHOTO BY RICK LEE

The MHI staff work to improve and protect the health and well-being of racial and ethnic minorities. From left are Vanessa Alagah, health education specialist; Dr. Anthony Woart, founder and director; LaDawna E. Walker-Dean, minority health coordinator; and Jonathan Lung, program staff member. Born and raised in the West African nation of Liberia, Woart earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Liberia’s College of Agriculture and Forestry. He then came to the United States to attend Jackson State University in

W hen Dr. AnthonyWoart founded the Minority Health Institute (MHI) while a sociology professor at Bluefield State College in the early 2000s, he had one goal in mind: understand the extent of health

disparities in West Virginia, par ticularly the rate of breast cancer among African American women compared to their white counter parts. He would spend 20 years at Bluefield State College before join ing Marshall University.

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