Howard
University
‘s Robert Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., is returning to
Vanderbilt
University
Medical
Center
as a guest speaker for the Fourth Annual Levi Watkins Jr. Lecture on Diversity in Medical Education.
Taylor, an African American who completed his residency training in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University Hospital, will deliver his speech titled, “Lessons Learned in Becoming a Physician and Biomedical Researcher” at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 18 in 208 Light Hall.
The lecture, presented by the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s Office for Diversity in Medical Education, is named after the
School
of
Medicine
‘s first African-American student to be admitted and graduate from the program.
An academician, physician, clinical pharmacologist, researcher and administrator,
Taylor
has been
Howard
University
Hospital
‘s director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology since 1980 and was appointed interim dean of the university’s
College
of
Medicine
in August.
He is a professor of pharmacology, medicine and psychiatry at
Howard
University
, where he served as chairman of the Department of Pharmacology from 1992-2005.
Taylor, the author or co-author of more than 80 scientific articles and abstracts in peer-reviewed journals, has focused his career on the study of alcohol abuse and alcoholism in African Americans, which includes an ongoing look into the effects of malt liquor.
He has received more than $15 million in research grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism/National Institutes of Health (NIAAA/NIH), including the initial grant support used to establish the Howard University Collaborative Alcohol Research Center in September 1997.
Eighteen research projects have been funded since the Center’s inception.
The Center’s mission is to stimulate, strengthen, and facilitate multidisciplinary research and collaborations that will lead to the reduction of alcohol morbidity and mortality among minority populations with emphasis on African Americans.
Taylor, who serves as the principal investigator/center director, recently had renewed a $6.5 million NIAAA grant to support the Center through 2008.
A reception is scheduled at 305 Light Hall following the lecture.