Vetta
Sanders Thompson, Ph.D., speaks like a minister, said her
colleagues at Washington University’s George Warren Brown School of
Social Work.
Thompson
is an associate professor at the school and faculty scholar at the
Institute for Public Health. When she tells a story, her eyes widen
and her cascading braids punctuate important points as she nods in
emphasis. Thompson has a 21-page resume that highlights dozens of
her presentations, 70 published works and several community
projects. Yet hearing her speak, it’s clear her goal is not to
lengthen her resume. She is committed to ending health disparities
among African Americans, particularly in cancer
detection.
On April
29, Thompson will receive the 2011 Excellence in Public Health
award at the St. Louis American Foundation’s 11th Annual Salute to
Excellence in Health Care Awards Luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton. A
reception will be held from 11 a.m. to noon, and the awards program
will follow from noon to 1:30 p.m.
Raised in
Birmingham, Alabama, Thompson was one of the first African
Americans to integrate a previously all-white elementary school.
She entered second grade with only two other black girls in the
school to lean on.
She
remembers stepping into the new school and immediately noting the
differences from her old school. It had a library with several
librarians (not the book mobile she knew), an auditorium, a
home-economics room and a physical education teacher who taught
nothing else. But most of all, she noted that the books were not
torn or already written in. She had been working in the whites
schools’ hand-me-down books.
“We were
the first African Americans at this school, and we had to figure it
out – and we did,” she said. “Even today, it informs my sense of
where the African-American community is and where it has to go. But
I also understand how far we’ve come.”
Thompson
still calls Birmingham home, even though she has lived in St. Louis
for 25 years. Her experience there shaped her identity and fuels
her work today, she said.
“That’s
why I like what I do with my public health colleagues because it
takes into account that where you live plays a role in your
health,” she said.
Whether it
is through policy or developing the appropriate intervention
communication, she aims to influence people’s access to
information, foods and programs that are going to make for a
healthy, high-quality life, she said.
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“font-family: Verdana;”>Body, soul and cancers “font-family: Verdana;”>
Victoria
Anwuri, project manager at the Washington University School of
Medicine Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, first met Thompson as a
master’s student 10 years ago. Now they work together in the
Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD), where
Thompson leads community outreach.
“She’s
very passionate about what she does, and it comes through in her
personality,” Anwuri said. “She’s very committed in everything she
does.”
Through
the program, Thompson serves as a guest health expert on radio
shows to encourage people to screen for cancers. PECaD also works
with libraries and the faith community to ensure the most recent
evidence-based cancer information is getting to the
public.
“I like
the fact that PECaD is ongoing,” she said, “and hopefully when we
finish, these churches should be able to sustain that effort long
after the project to end disparities is over.”
The idea
is to build sustainable programs so people will always be able to
get up-to-date information and know what to do to protect
themselves against cancer, she said.
“Vetta has
always been supportive of what we’ve been doing in terms of health
ministries in the St. Louis area,” said Dr. Del Doss-Hemsley, of
Faith Communities Joined for Health. “She’s been a real asset to
us.”
Faith
Communities Joined for Health grew out of the Brown School’s
evidence-based project Body and Soul. The consortium is now
developing health ministries in 15 churches with the focus of
encouraging the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Working with
Thompson and PECaD, the group also distributes cancer-prevention
materials.
“I think
things have happened because of Vetta and I think they will
continue to happen because of Vetta,” Doss-Hemsley said. “It would
be a loss if she left the St. Louis area.”
Thompson
said her current work with the National Children’s Study – one of
the largest longitudinal studies of children’s health ever
undertaken – will be one of the most noteworthy efforts of her
career. She will follow children from birth to age 21 to understand
how their environment combined with their biology contribute to
their health.
Having a
doctorate in psychology and being trained as a clinical
psychologist, she is passionate about integrating mental health
into health, she said.
“I think
people separate them, as if you can separate mind and body, and you
cannot,” she said. “If we want a healthy population, we have to pay
attention to mental health as well. I see them as one and the
same.”
