Building Health Equity Through Hip Hop Culture, A Neurologist Explains

The friendship and collaborative partnership between Columbia Neurologist Dr. Olajide Williams, professor of neurology and vice dean of community health at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Hip-Hop Artist Doug E. Fresh began nearly twenty years ago. Their shared interests in music and public health lead them to create the now wildly successful Hip Hop Public Health (HHPH) program. Their first creation for HHPH was a cartoon with a dance called "The Stroke," to teach children how to recognize the signs of a stroke, which was first implemented at public schools around Harlem Hospital in New York City in 2006. Its transformative success was soon reflected in the significant increase in the number of people receiving emergency stroke care at Harlem Hospital. The numbers exceeded even some that were recorded by hospitals in more affluent neighbors, which was an indication to the two collaborators that they were onto something big.

Nearly two decades later, fueled by the powerful collaboration between Dr. Williams and Doug E. Fresh, HHPH has grown exponentially both nationally and globally, and has led to significantly improved health outcomes in vulnerable, underserved communities. "Music has enormous healing power, and it is not being leveraged enough in health care," said Dr. Olajide Williams, who is also known as the "Hip Hop Doc". "Just like we learn our ABCs through song, we can also use music to learn how to better care for ourselves and our communities." [read more]

Source: Forbes