Minority House Staff Mentorship System

Mentorship teams were developed:

  • to mentor minority housestaff during their professional and personal development as physicians
  • to provide a personalized environment for professional and personal support
  • To provide positive role models for academic medicine
Each internal medicine minority resident is enrolled into one of three mentorship teams. Each team was named in honor of a former NYH Cornell house officer, fellow, or faculty member who has set the highest standards as a physician, educator, and/or investigator (Drs. Sullivan, Pape, or Wells). (It is our belief that our commitment to you does not end with your recruitment. We are committed to your personal and professional success as you develop as a physician.)

Our mentorship teams are named for the following outstanding physicians:

Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.
Dr. Sullivan is a former NYPH House Officer and former President of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. He served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Bush Administration, from 1989 to 1993. Dr. Louis is board certified in Internal Medicine and Hematology. He is the founding president of the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools and is the host of the public television series "Frontiers of Medicine".

Jean W. Pape, M.D.
Dr. Pape received his M.D. from Cornell in 1975 and subsequently completed a Cornell fellowship in Infectious Diseases. In 1980, Dr. Pape began an oral rehydration program at Haiti's State University Hospital, the major teaching hospital in Port-au-Prince. The rehydration program, was extremely effective and led to a dramatic decrease in infant mortality--from 40% to less than 1% within two years. Dr. Pape is a founding member of GHESKIO (The Haitian Study Group on Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infection). GHESKIO champions clinical research, health services for the underprivileged, and training in HIV/AIDS, as well as other deadly infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis. On April 25th, 2002, President Jacques Chirac presented Dr. Pape with France's Legion d'Honneur in recognition of his contributions to the improvement of the health of the Haitian people and that of people in the world, the highest honor France bestows.

Aaron O. Wells, M.D. (1920-2008)
Dr. Wells was the first African American faculty member in the Department of Medicine at Cornell Medical College, serving as Clinical Professor of Medicine. He formed a committee on behalf of minority students to establish a scholarship fund to assist with the extensive financial responsibilities. He was a key figure on the formation of the Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) and served as its first chair in 1964. The purpose was to contribute positively to the civil rights movement in the South. MCHR assisted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the campaign for civil rights in Mississippi. Dr. Wells had provided his leadership to the NAACP, Urban League, Committee of Black Physicians, Assault on Literacy, National Medical Association and many more.


CONTACT US

Dr. Susana Morales
Tel: (212) 746-1358
srm2001@med.cornell.edu

Dr. Carol Boutin-Foster
cboutin@med.cornell.edu

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