ROSEDALE, MD—MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center will celebrate Black History Month throughout February by honoring the contributions of six extraordinary African Americans to U.S. history, and welcoming Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president of University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), to speak on March 1, 2020.

The free community event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Kotzen Auditorium, and will include cultural performances by the Divine Dance Institute and the UMBC Jubilee Choir.

“We are proud and excited to have Dr. Hrabowski join us as part of our Black History Month celebration in commemorating the outstanding achievements of these great African-Americans whose work impact our daily lives,” said Samuel E. Moskowitz, FACHE, President, MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center and Senior Vice President, MedStar Health. “Our Black History Month steering committee chose to celebrate these heroes and share their stories to empower those in the African-American community to continue to achieve greatness, while gaining an understanding of the history and hardships they faced along the journey to their achievements.”

Dr. Hrabowski became the president of UMBC in 1992 and is a consultant on science and math education to national agencies, universities and school systems. He was named by President Barack Obama to chair the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. He also chaired the National Academies committee that produced the report, Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: American’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads, (2011).

MedStar Franklin Square also recognized six heroes from the science and medical field, throughout the campus during the month of February:

1. James McCune Smith— First African American professional physician in America
2. Mary Eliza Mahoney—First African American professional nurse in America
3. Henrietta Lacks—African American Baltimore Resident whose cells continue to help invaluable medical research around the world
4. Gladys Mae West—African American mathematician whose research led to the development of GPS
5. Percy Lavon Julian—African American chemist whose work laid the foundation for the production of steroids
6. Philip Emeagwali—African American computer scientist who contributed to the development of the Internet