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April 29, 2025 • 39 mins

Schenita D. Randolph.

Dr. Schenita D. Randolph is an Associate Professor at Duke University School of Nursing and Founding Director of the HEEAT Lab, which stands for addressing Health disparities through Engagement, Equity, Advocacy and Trust. A registered nurse for over 25 years, Dr. Randolph is advancing nursing science by using community partnerships to address the health inequities among Black Families living in the United States south. Her work has received national attention in the popular media and has been supported by public and private funders. She has publications in numerous journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association, that highlight population health and community engagement in education and research. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing which represent nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia. She is a proud HBCU graduate of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical (A&T) State University.

Dr. Randolph is dedicated to partnering with the community to develop culturally and socially relevant interventions that will advance health equity and improve health outcomes for minoritized communities. She is also committed to mentoring and supporting the next generation of nurse leaders and scientists.

Company Description *    
The HEEAT Lab is an interdisciplinary team of researchers, clinicians, business owners, and community members who are dedicated to addressing health disparities through equity, engagement, advocacy, and trust.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I am Rashaan McDonald, a host of weekly Money
Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this
show provides off for everyone. It's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
If you want to be a.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Guest on my show, please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot
com and click to be a guest.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Buddy.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
My guest is a proud graduate HBCU, graduate of North
Carolina A and T. And she's also an Associate professor
at Duke University of Nursing and founding director of the
Heat Lab. She is advancing nursing signs by using community
partnerships to address the help inequities among black families living

(00:42):
in the United States South. Please welcome to the Money
Making Conversation Masterclass. Doctor Shanida d Randolph. Hey dog Shanda,
I am doing wonderful. Dot me dode, doctor Shanda, Shanida,
Doctor Raddolph, give me the name, Give me the.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Name Shanida dot Randolph. Either one, I am, I am
both good.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Well, when Doctor Randolph, we start off that and I'm
sure I'm just lie that you need.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
As we get to know each other and all those
good things.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Tell me a little background about yourself, I said, HBCU graduate,
and now you're associate profess associate professor at the at
Duke University. Tell me about how it all started at
the HBCU.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Absolutely absolutely, I am definitely a proud graduate of North
Carolina Agricultural and Technical statement. You got to say it
like that, little Aggie pride. Yes, and so I completed
my undergraduate nursing degree at North Carolina A and T.

(01:44):
And actually from from there, I've actually had the opportunity
to also be on faculty years later, full circle at
the School of Nursing at A and T. So I'm
definitely a proud graduate of the university. HBCUs are undeniable
in their influence and the impact that they have across disciplines,

(02:07):
but specifically in nursing. So very proud to call myself
a A and T graduate.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, I'm proud for you to say that I'm an
advocate of HBCUs. I'm always stepping up an opportunity to
present and showcase what HBC's are delivering to this country
on a historical basis and with the future holds for HBCUs.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Why did you choose nursing.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
That's a great question, A great question my aunt actually had.

Speaker 4 (02:41):
I will say that she had an influence on me.
My great aunt was a nurse.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
As I was preparing for college and just having the
opportunity to care in different ways for my grandparents. It
was a discipline that I was exposed to. I saw
others doing it and thought that I would take that route.
I will say that it was probably one of the
best decisions.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
That I've made being a nurse.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
I mean, most people think about nursing as hospital and
as bed guide and taking care of people, but nursing
is so much more than that, so much more. We
are entrepreneurs, we're in the business sector. I myself now,
I am a nurse scientist, so I actually am a
researcher and I engage in advancing health by looking at

(03:33):
programs and interventions that are socially and culturally relevant, doing
that through our research process with the community. And so
nursing is so broad. It's more than just the bedside.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
And it is a you know, you have serotypes.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
You know what a nurse is to come in, take
your temperature, the doctor comes in, or the nurse comes
in before the doctor. So the nurse in some ways
I believe is disrespected from a standpoint of what you guys,
the full scope of what you guys do, based on
what I understand and what the general person understand. Now,

(04:08):
doing this interview, I heard the word nurse and science
together in the same sentence. I had never seen that before.
Talk to me about that, doctor Randolph.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Absolutely, absolutely so. I have a PhD in public health. Actually,
there is also an opportunity for people to get a
PhD in nursing and as a scientist, as a nurse scientist,
it gives us an opportunity to look at some methodologies,
evidence based literature and programs and interventions and really thinking

(04:43):
about the science behind what it is that we do
as we are. For me, it's implementation science, and so
I spend a lot of time on the development of
interventions that will address health and equities, and in doing that,
we are looking at the methods behind that right that
scientific rigor to show that these things.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
Are grounded in evidence.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
And so when you think about nurse scientists, that is
sort of a role that many people don't recognize that
that nurses have. I will say that less than one
percent of nurse sciences are actually black, and so I'm
always trying to expose nurses and expose others to the role.

(05:30):
And most think that nurse scientists are limited to academic settings, right,
and so I work at Duke in the School of Nursing.
But there are research entities and organizations and industry that
nurse scientists could also be a part of as they're
looking at that even from a clinical perspective. You know,

(05:51):
I focus on more and so behavioral science, but there's
also the science where you can look at drugs, right,
and how these drugs are impacting the body, and you
know how these drugs are are in clinical trials, and
so you have nurses that are a part of that
piece of research and scientists as well.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Now my intro, I said, heat lab you founded and
you're the director of the heat lab. Okay, No, you're
nurse signs and I'm learning about you. You know you graduate, okay,
associate professor that do you know your nurse scientists you're
more engaged in research. You're not that classic in our

(06:30):
mind what you think of what nurse and what she does?

Speaker 2 (06:34):
What is heat lab?

Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yep?

Speaker 3 (06:37):
So the heat lab heat with two ease means addressing
health disparities through engagement, equity, advocacy, and trust. And so
the Heat Lab consists of myself as a founding director.
We also have our co director, doctor Reagan Johnson, who

(06:57):
is also a nurse. She's a nurse practitioner that gives
another role right of the of nursing and what it offers.
But we also it's an interdisciplinary group of entrepreneurs, community advocates, clinicians,
business owners.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
Who have a shared vision.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
And our shared vision is to address the health inequities
that exist specifically in black communities. And how we do
that is through different mechanisms. Mainly, the Heat Lab focuses
on addressing HIV prevention.

Speaker 4 (07:34):
Among Black women particularly, but.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
We also have an arm of what we do that
focuses on black male adolescents and young adults and engaging
their fathers and their parents in sexual health communication to
make sure that we are living sexual healthy lives.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
And preventing HIV.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
You know, we make up a small population, but HIV
is still a thing, absolutely absolutely, and you know, make
women make up over half of the new HIV cases
and so in the Heat Lab, although those are two
things that we're focusing on now, our larger vision and
shared mission is to partner with the community to address

(08:19):
these inequities. We also are doing some things around firearm
violence with a nonprofit organization in North Carolina.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
And so so that's where you get your funding from.
Or because I'm shaying the government now is making all
these cuts, are you afraid? Are you impacted by these cuts?
If they are made, where would you get your funding?

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yeah, that's a really great question. And yes, there's a
lot going on right now. We were recently funded as
of the end of last year by the nih actually
particularly the National Institute for Nursing.

Speaker 4 (08:55):
Research, and they are cutting funding for that.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
We do have a currently we have like a four
point four million dollar grant that over five years is
focusing around black women and PREP use, which is pre
exposure profilaxis.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
You may have heard it now, it's PREP.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
Has been a conversation that some influencers have been having
lately right in the.

Speaker 4 (09:19):
Use of PREP to protect your one from getting HIV.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
Right, and so as that funding, you know, is up
for being cut, I think that you know, we also
have the Heat Lab has funding through industry through foundations
as well, and so I think the good thing about
the heat lab is that we have not focused all
of our efforts on federal dollars.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
Right, Well, I think it's important that we talk about
your program. You found it, you director of it.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
It's important to you.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
And then some people come along and say, well, you
know they're doing that over there in Houston.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Are they doing that in New York? We don't need
you to.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Do the same thing in their mind in North Carolina.
But then you say, you're about health inequities for black
families in the United States South?

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yes, why is that important?

Speaker 4 (10:13):
Good question? Good question.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
You know, when we think about social determinants of health
and our health as as black individuals, as black, as
a black woman, we have to face the reality that
there are some things that are occurring.

Speaker 4 (10:28):
In the South.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
The first reason, though, the answer to that is that
a lot of the HIV rates are higher in the
southern region of the United States.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Why why?

Speaker 3 (10:40):
There are multiple things that that address that. Some of
those things include access to care.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
Right, it's a population mass population. Mass populations I would
think of to be on the.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
East coast, where are predominant amount of the African American
population kind of goes swings south to the east.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
It does, and so that is one reason as well,
that is where a large population of Black Americans reside
are in those areas as well. You know another factor
that I don't think that we can leave out and
not have conversation and bring awareness to and acknowledge.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
And that is systemic racism.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
I know it's a thing now that people don't want
to talk about, and you know, you gotta be careful
around having those conversations, but it is one that is
historically it's true, right, and so there are impacts of
implicit bias and systemic racism that is grounded. It was

(11:43):
built in our systems that are impacting people's health.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
What exactly is systemic racism.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Systemic racism goes beyond I'm black, you're white.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
We don't like each other.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
It's beyond prejudice, right, It's beyond an emotional attachment to
the color of your skin. Systemic racism is really looking
at how these systems are created and how they function
that creates barriers in health care delivery, health care access

(12:21):
for patients.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
Right.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Systemic racism looks at the fact that you know, when
you think about for example, we'll take education for example, Right,
when you think about where a school is located, and
how much funding that school actually receives can really have
an impact on where that school is located right within

(12:45):
that county.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
Right.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
You think about even redlining, right, and how certain communities
may not have access to healthy foods right within the communities,
desert within their communities. Those things are that system, right,
And so how are systems, even our healthcare system, and

(13:09):
how it functions to to not meet all of the
knees and access of those people. All of those things
are sort of they're they're they're rooted and grounded, and
how the system was created to separate and I think
those are things that that we really have to.

Speaker 4 (13:29):
Take into consideration and how they how they impact.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
He well, can we say this that I'm an African
American man, as I say to people, I've been black
all my life, But also I'm in the culture that's
in denial, in denial about the gay community within our
denial by high blood pressure, denial by diabetes, high cholesterol.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
So that denial does it.

Speaker 1 (13:59):
Feed into the factors of saying that this is why
it's also a problem within our community, the HIV explosion.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
It's a tricky question.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Why isn't a tricky question, doctor, because I said, because
I believe it is true. I know my people, I
know we are sitting in that corner and looking at
won't admit, won't admit. And it's sad to say because
of the facts that there in front of us. We
are a people who tend to are so proud and
so stubborn. That's why we were victimized by COVID, because

(14:41):
of weight issues, because of health issues, because we have
refused to acknowledge that there's a high level of obesity,
there's a high level of blood pressure issues, and cholesterol
issues and diabetic issues, and they all came out with COVID.
So I'm not trying to push anything on you, not

(15:03):
telling you what I see and what I feel. But
I wanted to have an open dialogue with you because
you are the subject matter expert.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely so, so let me let me
acknowledge that.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
Your feelings are accurate.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
And that many may feel that way. And so I
want to acknowledge that and not deny it. Right, I
think that you know the term of denying that there
is a problem denying that. I think I pause in
that moment because although that is some truth to that,

(15:40):
we also have to think about why that truth exists.
And if we put that truth there and put a period,
then that makes us the the reason for the problem,
and that's not the case. So so let me give
you a point a point of real scenario. A real

(16:02):
scenario is I have a family member who denied that
there was a problem with their health. Okay, they denied
that they were potentially having a stroke. Right, they denied
it and wanted to put it on other things, right

(16:23):
as to not seek care.

Speaker 4 (16:26):
Right. But when you dig deeper to that, why was
that denial?

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Right?

Speaker 4 (16:30):
And so do I put that denial on them?

Speaker 3 (16:32):
And when you dig deeper, it was also because the
last time I went to the hospital, the doctor did
nothing for me. I stayed there for twelve hours and
they did nothing for me.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
Right.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Or you know every time I go, I have to
pay two hundred dollars for each visit. Right, And so
you see the association with the denial of that, right,
And so I think it gets deeper a little bit
deeper than that. There are there are reasons, specifically I'm

(17:07):
speaking for the healthcare system, there are reasons that I
may not think that something is for me, right, so
with prep, for example, women will say, oh, that's not
for me.

Speaker 4 (17:21):
I'm not going to be on prep. Prep is not
for me.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
That's denying, right, right, that's denying. But on the other
side of that is women also have not been given
the opportunity to see themselves in the messaging behind prep.
Women have also gone to their doctors, and their doctors
not offer them prep.

Speaker 4 (17:41):
You see.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
So I think it's a it's a it's a joint responsibility.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
I definitely don't want.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
To put all the ownst on us as a community
to say that.

Speaker 4 (17:59):
All of that responsibilit lies on us, because let me.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Go in deeper here, miss scientists, what role does the
church play in all this? Because they have a captain audience,
they can speak the truth, and that's when denial can
become even more magnified. Who wants to bring the gay
community into the church, conversation into the church, and one

(18:22):
talks about HIV, they tend to want to think it's
just a gay issue, and it's not. It's a it's
a communication issue. It's a sexual transmitted disease issue. And
there are a lot of individuals out there who are
not gay that are getting HIV through sexual relationships. So

(18:42):
what role can the church play? I know, pushing this
a little bit far out there for you, but you
know you HBCU graduate, you associate professor that do I
think I can talk to you like this?

Speaker 4 (18:53):
You can talk?

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Now?

Speaker 3 (18:55):
Is the time where you call me not doctor Randols? Yeah?
So many social determinants of health, right, And so when
did you talk about this notion of many people thinking
this is a gay disease?

Speaker 4 (19:10):
Right?

Speaker 3 (19:10):
Right? Historically black women get HIV through hetero sexual contact.
That is the primary way of getting HIV, right, and
so we cannot limit it to it being a certain gender.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
Or certain sexual preference.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
Right. We really have to start looking at this to
the lens that HIV impacts everyone, and I think that's
a place that we.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
Have to start, right.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
And that's why we're having this conversation because I'm trying
to When I did my research on you, doctor Randolph,
the whole thing was about information, and when you get
into that HIV lane, Oh, it's a recognized day and
it goes away. And it also just like COVID, people
think COVID is going away. People are still dying of
COVID right now. And so it's the same thing with

(20:02):
HIV is not on the front lines of conversation, So
people go it doesn't bother me, it's not part of
my lifestyle.

Speaker 5 (20:08):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making

(20:31):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
I don't have to worry about that, but here you
are of a program called heat Lab and you are.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Adamant that we still need to.

Speaker 4 (20:44):
But the great thing is, uh huh, you don't have to.
And I'm going to get back to your church question.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
I know we're not running from that, but you know,
you're one of those people.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
I gotta like stop you here because you've be throwing
out those good vibes and information. I got to make
sure I get that broken down.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
But you know nothing, you run from the church question,
and no, I'm not.

Speaker 4 (21:04):
Running from it.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
So the thing is, though, that the good thing is
we're in twenty twenty five, yes, ma'am, And so there
have been so many advancements in HIV, right, there is
there is an opportunity now to live healthy lives with HIV.

(21:26):
There's medications that if one is HIV positive that they
actually can become undetectable where there is no trace. Right,
there's there that they can live a healthy life undetectable
right with HIV.

Speaker 4 (21:42):
And then there's PREP.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
So if I, if I, if somebody is HIV positive
and they decide that they have a partner, their partner
can be on PREP which will prevent them and decrease
their chances of getting HIV from their HIV positive partner.
So we are not in the same times that we
were previously. And I think that's the message to that

(22:06):
no one, no woman, no woman, no man, has to
live with with HIV. They're they're they're advancements in that
right if we make a decision to you know, they're
there are other options for us, right, And I think
that getting tested is very important, getting tested frequently, getting

(22:30):
tested at least once a year, but also depending on
your sexual health and your sexual life, right, and so
whatever that looks like for someone, it may mean that
they need to get tested more often. And so there
are so many advances in HIV that I think that

(22:51):
we can sort of look at things a little bit different,
Whereas before you get an HIV diagnosis and you're like, Okay,
let's start planning because I'm about to die of this disease.
And that is not where we are in twenty twenty five. However,
where we are still is that we have PREP has

(23:12):
been around since twenty twelve, and we still have less
than two percent or so of women who are on
it right. And a part of that, again, when you
talk about that denial piece, part of that is us
as healthcare providers. Do your providers even know about it?

(23:33):
Do they talk to you about it? How easily is
it for you to access it? Do you even see
yourself in a messaging? And that has been a big
thing for us, is that when we bring PREP up,
women are like, oh, I've seen that commercial, but I
thought it was for gay man because I didn't see myself.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
I didn't even know it was for me.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
And so I think that's a piece as well that
I just wanted to bring up to church. Now there
you go, church, Okay. So historically, yes, there continues to
be I think some some barriers in having conversations within
our churches around sex period more or less around HIV.

(24:20):
You know, whenever we do our work in the Heat Lab,
we partner with the beauty industry. So we have partners
as that are part of the Heat Lab that have
actually co developed interventions. One of our interventions is called updues,
which is using PREP doing It for Ourselves, which is

(24:41):
an initiative to really bring awareness to Black women around
PREP and help them to.

Speaker 4 (24:47):
Get on PREP.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
They can actually access telehealth, speak with the provider, send
an HIV test to their house, send PREP.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
To their house.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
We have That is what we are actually doing as
a part of this study with Updues. But we partner
with the beauty industry, right and so we have barbers,
we have stylists who partner with us. And so I
say all that to say it continues to be in

(25:16):
some churches stigmatized, and I think it just means that
we have to find other routes and other avenues.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Used the word most churches, you know, because let's be
real about this, because if I'm you, doctor Randolph, I'm
frustrated because you see a problem. It's not being magnified,
like you said in a beauty salon, and a barbershop.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
That should be a poster acknowledging this is happening. That
should be.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
When I go to a doctor, it's gotten so non personal.
You know, you do it on an app and they
say yes or no. And I'm telling you, I'm not
gonna put all my personal stuff on an app or
type out the description of your sexual preference on an
app or computer form. And so I think the way

(26:10):
whethersin is being handled because we're in a rush to
get all these forms filled out before you arrived.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
So in your ride, we coulda rush you back out
the door.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
Because our job is to turn around and flip as
many patients so.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
We can make as much money. So when we.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
Get flipped in flipped out, don't know the proper care,
the proper reason we are in there. And guess what
next thing? You know, we sitting in a drug store.
They're giving us some pills. We don't know if that
pill gonna take care of you. The reason I say
that because I wake up and take six pills every morning.
I don't know who if those six pills can help
me live ten years, twenty years, or thirty years. But

(26:48):
I know I'm taking those pills and That's where the
nurse and the science is frustrating me because the system
I don't believe is allowing you an opportunity to be
as successful.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Is that truth?

Speaker 3 (27:01):
I would echo that with exclamation points.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Sir, thank you.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
And I'm not here to say anything bad. I'm just
saying that I'm trying to figure out how I can
help you. But I know in some ways my energy
to help you is only going to be a small
amount of information that's being distributed because again, people, especially
people of color, we just in denial, denial, denio.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
It's ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
And then we have programs like DEI that's claiming like
DEI is only helping black people are people of color,
and we all know it's white women who are benefiting
from this, the most welfare, white people benefiting from this,
the most unemployment, white people benefiting.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
The most. Only thing we leading in is prison.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
Now we went in in prison with everything else where
you can benefit from, we in behind. But they stereotype
us and make us believe that we are the bigger
benefactors of this. Come to HIV when I have an
opportunity to speak and be your bullhorn, what can I
do to help you?

Speaker 2 (28:09):
Out, doctor Randolph, because I'm fired up.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
You know you're fired up first or night you get
a brother fired up?

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Now, I love it.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
I think really just you know, two things I think
think come to mind. Definitely, follow some of the work
that we're doing in in the Heat Lab. When it
comes to research, there is some distrust historically and current
with our participation as Black Americans in research, and that's

(28:40):
completely understood, right. But following the heat Lab at the
heat lab dot org for you know, different programs and
ways that the community can be engaged in that work,
and to bring awareness to that work would be very,
very helpful to be an advocate and help us to
add cap for that and our shared vision.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
You know, we do our work with.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
The community, and the community voice is always prioritized.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
We have a community Advisory Council.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
Again, we have partners and consultants to our community members
and not sciences that are working alongside of us.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
And so I think that's one thing.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
I think the other thing is just continuing to recognize
that we are operating within a system that I honestly
and this is this is Shanita speaking here, I think
that we're going to really have to think of ways
as a community to advance our own health and be

(29:48):
opinion leaders and share information, community organizing, partnering with one another,
and collaborating with one another to advance our health because,
as you stated, our system, even our healthcare system. I've
experienced it the past month or so on a personal basis,
and it's heartbreaking, right, It's very heartbreaking just to see

(30:15):
and to experience some of the things that I have personally.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
But you know, just share a personal story.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
I was in high school and I did a class
assignment was drug addicted babies. These are babies who are born,
they're born, they got to have they're born addicted to
drugs and that's about forty years ago, and.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
That's still a problem today. The people. It's a problem.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
And so when I because I saw you become emotional,
which means that emotion is usually tied to frustration, and
then it also tied to you see the numbers. You
see the reality, and you don't see that reality turning
fast enough for you.

Speaker 4 (30:56):
We were talking about it for a long time.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
I know, like I said, that's trying to bring up
my story abou drug edicen babies. You know that affected
me way when I was in high school and today
is still a problem. And so I want to ask
this question, to read it off the card, how do
you mentor the next generation of nurse scholars who will
be committed to addressing the health of our black communities.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
Absolutely, If you remember, I became a nurse because I
saw a black woman who was a nurse who looked
like me, And I think that representation definitely matters. Some
of the experience that you shared about your own health
experiences in terms of the system, all of that matters.

(31:40):
So it matters that I see a black nurse. It
matters that I see a black nurse scientist. Representation definitely matters.
It matters that as a black woman with a lived
experience who goes to the beauty salon, like I understand
at a different level whenever.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
I am operating in my role as a.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
Nurse scientist to develop interventions right and to talk.

Speaker 4 (32:05):
About the lived experiences.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
So all of that matters, and so one thing that
we have done, I'm a co founder of Black PhD
Nurse Scientists. Three of my other colleagues who are also
black PhD prepared nurse scientists who also have graduated from
HBCUs Howard Perry View University. We have partnered and we

(32:32):
are doing HBCU tours at schools of nursing. So there
are thirty three HBCUs that have.

Speaker 4 (32:41):
Schools of nursing.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Only three of those schools have PhD programs where you
could be a nurse and get your PhD in nursing.
That's problematic, right, and so what we are doing is
really just going to HBCUs. We've been to A and T,
we went to Howard University and large, and we're just
allowing undergraduate nursing students to see.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
What we do as a nurse scientist.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
We expose them to this role in hopes that they
will see this representation and it will spark something for
them to be able to think about this as a
career trajectory. Again, there's like less than one to two
percent of us are nurses who have PhDs who are

(33:29):
nurse scientists are black. And so if we're talking about
addressing health disparities and most of those researchers who are
doing that are not black, there's opportunities there, right, Because
there is something that to be said that whenever I
have lived that experience, I can offer a lot to

(33:53):
that conversation. And so that's one thing that we're doing
is through our Black PhD Nurse Scientists Program is exposing
others through our HBCU tours. We're also trying to support
other nurse scientists who are currently in that role through
wellness retreats and writing retreats to make sure that they

(34:16):
have scholarly impact and that they are sharing their work
within the academic setting, but more importantly, that they have
the strategies to make sure that we share who we
are and what we do and why to a broader community.
For an example, having the opportunity to sit down with
you today, you know that that's that's important. This means

(34:38):
more to me than it does my New England Journal
Medicine article, right because it picks up the New England
Journal Medicine and read it.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
Right.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
But I don't know, right, I bet you hurt.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
In my head. I got enough problem. I don't need
to be hurt some more. Understand right, what.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
People listen to you in your podcast? Right?

Speaker 3 (35:03):
So that's how I like to support current and future
NERSE scientists.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
And for the beauty of my show, you know, it's
syndicated to twenty HPCUS nationwide. It's also syndicated on Serious X,
which is HPCU. It airs on the WCLK in Atlanta, Georgia.
So a good and also my podcast is a nationwide
global podcast.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
And when I look at.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
You, you know your smile is too brilliant for it
to be tied to disappointment. So you said, why are
you motivated. I'm motivated by keeping a smile on your
face and by letting you know I believe in what
you're doing. I'm an honest guy because honesty has allowed
me to be able to say there's a lot more

(35:53):
to do. It's just saying I'm in.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
I'm in. There's a lot of people in. But what
are you doing? Being right? Right? Get dirty? But I
just wanted to bring you on.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
And this is not a one time relationship. I want
you to believe that we're gonna start, this is gonna
be ongoing because like I said, I saw drug addicted
babies more than fifty years ago and they still a.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Drug addicted baby today.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
And if we don't make change, if another COVID hit,
it's gonna be We're gonna be at the top of
the list of the ethnic group that is impacted the
most in a negative way. Same thing with the HIV
and now every time I hear about HIV in the
Black community is impacting women. I was born and raised
with six sisters, and so there are men out there

(36:39):
that are caring this disease. So women have to know
they have to be the first in the lead for
protecting themselves and not trusting their quote unquote partners because
they are being impacted the most. And we all know
that women, they are more women than men. So when
you say women are leading in the HIV, that means
there are a few guys out there that are doing

(37:00):
things they should be doing and not being honest with
their sexual parts. So with that being said, I allow
you to close by show with eighty follow up thoughts.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Yeah, first of all, thank you, thank you so much
for having me today, and I look forward to the
opportunities to be able to share, if nothing else, is
to share what we're doing in the heat lab. And
you know how the community can be impacted.

Speaker 4 (37:22):
You know, we talked a lot.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
I think the one thing I would close with is
that I hope that we as a community can be
empowered and that we can support one another for our health.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
If we see something.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
Or we we we hear you know that we get
this knowledge or that we can share it with others,
and that we are truly our brother and our sister's keeper.
There are challenges and barriers that have persisted for years
right and until we take some empowerment and and ownership

(38:01):
for each other to advance our own health and to
make sure that we are healthy.

Speaker 4 (38:10):
And that we are you know, not living this life
full full of stress and being here for one for
one another, and that I would also say, you know,
follow us at the heat lab dot org.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
Our work now has a focus in six counties throughout
North Carolina, Mecklenburg, Forsyth County, Wake, Durham County, Guildford County
to name to name those in Cumberland County. Reach out
to us. If you're a beauty salon who would like
to be engaged in this work, we would definitely love

(38:44):
to partner with you in in that and through collaboration
and partnership. You know, we just got to be there
for for one another and for our community.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
To thank you for coming on Money making Converses Masterclass
Doctor Randolph h.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
I'm up and love.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
I just did a big bag for you guys hosted again.
Thank you and I appreciate you coming on my show
and taking the time to share your knowledge and your
nurse science knowledge with my audience.

Speaker 4 (39:15):
Okay, thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 6 (39:19):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today, and thank you listening to the
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with

(39:40):
your gifts.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Keep winning.
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Host

Rushion McDonald

Rushion McDonald

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