Engaging Future Healthcare Practitioners at Daniel Hale Williams Preparatory School of Medicine

On Thursday, June 1, 2023, representatives from UI Health visited the Daniel Hale Williams Preparatory School of Medicine as part of a program to raise awareness of career possibilities in the health professions among high school students. Dr. Phyllis Hayes and Kristal Willis of the UIC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, Francisco Pina of the UIC Urban Health Program, and Jiho Yun of the UIC College of Dentistry presented to an attentive audience of 32 students. Throughout the event the students expressed interest in pursuing careers in dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and social work.

School Principal Leonetta C. Sanders also attended the event, and the students informed her that they are interested in further engagement with UI Health and its seven health sciences colleges in the fall, to access UIC campus programming and other opportunities for exploring careers in the health professions.

Located in the Bronzeville community, DuSable–Daniel Hale Williams Preparatory School of Medicine (formerly DuSable High School) is a Chicago Public Small School with an enrollment of 75 students who are interested in healthcare and are from populations that are underrepresented in academia and in the health professions. The school’s mission is to increase the matriculation rate of underrepresented minorities in top post-secondary institutions as well as to increase applicants to the medical professions. This historic institution prides itself for having graduated many notable Black Chicagoans such as historian and civil rights activist Timuel Black (Class of 1937), businessman John H. Johnson (Class of 1936), musician Ella Jenkins (Class of 1942), Chicago Mayor Harold Washington (Class of 1939), television producer Don Cornelius (Class of 1954), educator and former University of Illinois Board of Trustee Dr. Frances G. Carroll (Class of 1950), educator Dr. Grace Dawson (Class of 1950), athlete Jason Williams (Class of 2004), and Illinois Senator Mattie Hunter (Class of 1976).