Episode Transcript
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(00:09):
Good morning, and welcome to anotheredition of Community DC. I'm your host
Dennis Glasgow. This morning, weget to talk about healthcare, specifically innovation
through JOHNS Hopkins University of Medicine,with the Director of Community Health Design and
Innovation, Al Brown and his involvementwith the program Ward Infinity. We'll also
have a visit with someone that hasbeen a part of the program, and
that's doctor Carlicia Gentles. Here's myconversation with both Al and doctor Gentles.
(00:33):
I hope you enjoyed the conversation asmuch as I did. Good morning,
Al, Good morning. That isthanks for having me. Truly appreciate the
opportunity to share what we're doing atJohn Hopkins University in medicine and more specifically
the Ward Infinity program in Washington,d C. It's a delight to sit
and chat with you and really appreciateall the work that you've done to highlight
(00:55):
work happening in communities across the country. So pleased to be here. Well,
it's my pleasure. And then justa little bit we're going to talk
to somebody that has been a partof the Ward Infinity program, doctor Gentles,
and just kind of get from herstandpoint, what it was like to
be a part of that, andwhat they're working on, which is really
innovative. But every time I talkabout JOHNS. Hopkins University of Medicine,
(01:17):
I always think about innovation. Andwith your titles Director of Community Health Design
and Innovation, I think we needto give the listeners some context to exactly
what you do and then we canmove from there. What does exactly you
do? What does that title mean? The title means that I'm responsible for
driving innovation results with partners in thecommunity or ventures in Washington, d C.
(01:44):
Specifically. I know a lot offolks know that Hopkins is a Maryland
Baltimore icon, but we also operateover Washington, d C. And my
area of responsibility is really helping onjust talent and unique and when we talk
about innovation, it's in the contextof problems that we're helping people and individuals
(02:07):
and business solve. So that iswhat innovation is for me. And you
know, you would often hear metalk about talent is evenly distributed, but
what is not evenly distributed as anopportunity. So my job is to is
to bring the resources of John Hopkins, its brand, its knowledge it's expertise
(02:29):
to the communities in Washington, dC. And help bring those talents out
to solve problems in partnership with them. So talent is there. What is
not being there has been opportunities.My job as the director is to create
environments to create relationship that sprew thoseopportunities that's needed in the community. I
(02:52):
mentioned the Ward Infinity. Let's talkabout that. First of all, what
is it? So? What Infinityis a five months social innovation entrepreneurship accelerator.
It's accelerator because the idea behind itis that we can help our individuals,
people's teams with business ideas and solutionsturn it into an actual business.
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So turn it into an actual solution. One of the most powerful ways to
help build community, to build theeconomic viability of cities and communities is through
entrepreneurship. And so what Infinity setsout to identify our businesses and ventures and
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people who don't have access to,you know, the typical set of resources
by bringing John Hopkins resources and partnersto them to help them solve for these
ideas they have. I am youknow, my staff often reminds me that
sometimes I talk about I'm looking forwardto that grandma who is who has a
(04:01):
jar in her in her cabinet forthe past ten years and she swears by
it that it solves need problems forall of the athletes in her family.
Well, is that something that shouldbe expanded to others? Is that an
opportunity to solve a bigger problem beyondher immediate family. I want to take
(04:21):
that, help her take that ideaand get it tested in the community,
getting tested in the business world forefficacy, and get it to scale.
Now, when it comes to WardInfinity, what's the criteria that you can
be a part of this innovation?So the number one criteria is that you
have to be a Ward Infinity Fellow. They becomes John Hopkins Ward Infinity Fellows.
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Once they get accepted, we havean application process and they the core
of their business idea. One hasto be a registered DC business and two
Washington DC business and two has tobe solving for a problem that exists in
Washington, d C. And Somy first mission is you can't build individual
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wealth and business wealth if the communityat large is not behind it and not
doing well. So we want tomake sure that these businesses and these ventures
and these ideas that we work withare supporting and bringing solutions that are needed
in these communities. And obviously,as we are John Hopkins, a big
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part of who we are and whatwe are known for and who we are
is about health. So most ofmy work and most of the ventures that
we accept into, uh, youknow, intoward infinity health focus. But
also we're we're work on folks whowork with folks who are unsustainability and or
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climate change, climate adaptability and soforth. We have five areas that we
make investments in. So if youhave a business idea and or not just
an idea of a solution that you'vebeen tested, it has to get accepted
into the program. It has tobe focused either on one of these five
areas. Food and nutrition has tobe solving a problem focused in food and
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nutrition has to be solving a problemin health technology. In other words,
are there is there a technology thatyou have that can help make help literacy
access to health care better and easier. The other would be climate change and
climate adaptability. Do you have asolution a business idea that you want us
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to help you accelerate? Those arethe five areas that we would want your
solution to be focused on, andwe make investments. We would give you
in most instances seed capital to getstarted, and then we put you through
a five month curriculum where between fiveseven hours a week you are in a
(07:01):
classroom or working with a coach onbusiness business content to develop and understanding a
customer journey, understanding product to marketfit, and so the number of elements
that you have to be good atin order to build a business that is
sustainable and scalable. All if youcould do me a favor. In just
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a few moments, I'm going tohave a chance to talk with doctor Gentles,
who's been a part of Ward Infinity. Can you do a little bit
of an introduction for her, becauseI know you know her well and what
she's working on right now. She'sa wonderfully talented, smart lady. Only
fifteen years ago she was an actualpharmacist at a Walmart and where she's ascended
in the last fifteen years as anincredible story. She's very smart, very
(07:46):
well spoken. We're going to talkit a few minutes, but for context,
can you tell us a little bitabout her? Yeah, now,
doctor Gentle, but Caalicia came tous and what Infinity program. She was
living in what A in Washington,d C. And learned about this this
idea of how you can take asolution, a business idea and accelerate it
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to be something that gets capital dollarsand becomes a solid, scalable business.
And she enrolled in our program anddid the work originally from I believe,
Georgia, but as you mentioned,a brilliant young woman who at the time
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was also enrolled at Howard University andso raising a family, growing to grad
school and joining our accelerator showed thatshe had the grit and idea that she
was committed to. You will hearher talk about her product is called her
(08:50):
company is called Salve or Innovation,but her main product is something called Tyrone,
which is an put that helps withmedical literacy. She through our program
discovered that one of the biggest challengesthat people in DC, especially in uninvested
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communities, underserved communities have is understandand lingual knowing what questions to ask their
doctor. And so she has comeup with a way to help that audience,
you know, manage that process andwe get better healthcare as a result
of it. Ultimately, and withthat, here's my conversation with doctor gentles
(09:35):
Well, doctor General's we just heardin the introduction about why you're involved in
your hair. We sure appreciate yourtime, and I think the one thing
that we need to give context toour listeners before anything else about your relationship
with al and the connection with JOHNSHopkins is about Ward Infinity. It's such
a neat program and while we havea short time to discuss it, and
it deserves more than five or sixminutes, can you give us some context
(09:56):
and tell us what Ward Infinity actuallyis. Yeah, I can definitely do.
And again, thank you so muchDennis and out for this amazing opportunity.
So the Ward Infinity is just anamazing program that's associated with put out
by John Hopkins University of Medicine,and it's actually how we were able to
actually dream big and get our businessactually kicked off. So it's an accelerated
program that gives one funding and supportsmembers of the awards Fixed Well and get
(10:18):
it right five, six, seven, and eight communities, but given local
entrepreneurs social impact focus the opportunity toreally just dream big and give them tools
and support to really push out theirventures and try and tackle some of these
social problems that we see within ourcommunity members and just within our lives in
general. So it gets the opportunityto dream big. It also has a
(10:39):
very robust curriculum that actually takes youon a Human Design Center program. So
there's a big focus on designing withand building with community and not for community,
which we often see occur too often. So I think the approach that
Warden Findi has is really honing inon those specific areas, those wards I
just mentioned earlier, social impact entrepreneursand enterprises, and just giving your average
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person a leg up an opportunity toreally pursue their vision because maybe they're working
every day, but they have thisamazing idea to tackle a problem of low
health literacy like we did, orthere's a digital technology solution that's been on
their heart that could really help ourcommunity members, but they don't have the
means to do so, or maybethey just need a help to push forward
with their business insight, and wardInfinity is definitely there to help get that
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solution and push them forward in theopportunity. You know, doctor Gentles,
I've been for two is to talkto so many great Howard grads like yourself,
and it is a great school.It is a great school, and
there's so many cool people, smartpeople to come out of that. But
the other thing I was looking atwhen I was watching the videos of Ward
Infinity, and for you, asa woman of color, is that we're
giving opportunities to people that might nothave that necessarily in opening up and getting
(11:52):
these opportunities, I'd like you totalk about that, because I think it's
really important to have these when itcomes to Ward Infinity, you know,
and and innovating, but to giveeverybody a chance, not only you know,
people of color, but everybody achance to do some really incredible things
like you've been doing. Yeah.No, I totally agree when you say,
hu, I'm over here sitting likeyou know, because that is fine.
(12:13):
I love high school. I gotmy pharmacy degree, and even in
speaking of that, like, hey, I'm a homegrown, small town,
growing up girl from you know,rural parts of Georgia, and to go
to Washington, d C. Thebig city and pursue my doctorate was just
amazing. And then to have theopportunity to then come back and work there
in the spaces that I did withthe food and Drug administration. It's just
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you know, who would have thought, you know, my mom was a
single parent during that time, thatI would be able to have these opportunities.
And then fast forward, still beingable to be in the Washington,
DC area and come upon this opportunityat Ward and Findy while living in Ward
eight. I moved to Wardate intentionallybecause this area can often be seen as
downtrodden or underserved. But there aresome great things, great amazing things and
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people in Ward eight that needs mehighlight and just need to be given the
opportunity. I often like to usethe word underserved under resource because it's often
overlooked. It's not the actual peoplethat are doing things in these places,
but the resources that are just notabundant in these areas. And I feel
that John Hopkins Warden Finity definitely comesin particularly from that business. I expect
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to give opportunities to found those likemyself and my co founder, to get
these opportunities to push forward our businessacumen, to give that opportunity to take
our ventures forward, our inspiration tostart our business. It's based on personal
and lived experience and our professional observationsthat we saw from living and working in
the warded community, and then JohnHopkins Warden Finity came along to just really
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push us forward with the opportunity todream big, no holds barred. We're
going to give you resources, We'regoing to support you. We're going to
connect you with community partners which mighthave been Community of Hope at the time,
some amazing mentors I'm Steven and soforth that were in the Marissa.
I just couldn't We really couldn't havefor our venture without them to bring forth
our company, Salaveil Innovations and ourmobile application, Tyrone. You know,
(14:05):
I can tell about your enthusiasm aboutthis as we talk about it, and
I love that. I know youcome from a pharmaceutical background and you had
mentioned that, but your ascension ofall the different things that you've done is
truly remarkable. As we kind ofwrap up our conversation, I think we
can give a little more context ourlistener about you know, the award it
self, what you were working on, and what you and your team will
be working on in the coming monthsand years. Can you guys shed some
(14:26):
light on that for us? Sure? Yeah, I can definitely do that.
So, as I mentioned before,our inspiration to start the business and
really jump start that's based on ourpersonal our lived experiences my co founders.
You know, grandmother was raised inthe South and so as I, and
these experiences just perfectly aligned with thatWard and Findy program for the creation of
Tyrone. So Tyrone is our actualmobile health application that bridges that gap between
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patients and providers and breaking down complicatedhealthcare dragon. Dennis, you may have
been yourself or out been in thescenario where you're in an office visit and
a lot of the information either becauseyou're either in pain or just a lot
was going on, may have beengoing over your head. And often,
you know, patient friendly patient languageis not used in those avenues because,
(15:11):
you know, being healthcare Proude myself, we're rushing, we're trying to get
things going on. We're not alwaysable to use a teach back method that
we're taught in school. Right.We're trying to get you what you need
and get you out the door,right, but we're not often able to
have that fruitful exchange with our patients. So with Tyrone, Tyrone is able
to gain break down that complicated healthcaredragon into easily understood terms. It can
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also help intersect some of those painpoints that we discovered during the Ward and
FINDI program. We went on thatHuman Design Center approach. We went into
barbershops, we went into local librariesto really see what our community members were
experiencing. What we're hearing was theydon't understand what the doctor is saying.
What they're hearing was I don't knowwhat questions to ask my doctor, and
sometimes I am going back to theer because that's where I just feel most
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comfortable. So in tackling those,we took Tyrone built out a symptom checker,
also in an appointment maker with aquestion builder, so you're able to
know what questions you should be askingif you're a provider in that time,
and then also send it to themadvanced so there can be a more fruitful
exchange. And then of course nudgesand prompts remind patients post visit what they
should be doing, and a lotof this just really again it helps for
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that fruitful exchange and sure that patientscan really utilize the information that's given to
them to hopefully then prevent those overutilizationof the er and so forth, and
really increase that sense of self agency. You know we may not be able
to change our healthcare system, butwe can definitely empower our community members to
best be able to use the informationthey're receiving to make the most informed health
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care decisions for themselves and our families. Again, since wrdon FINDI, we've
been able to partner with ARP andthe a Tech Collaborative which has really supported
us. Also with Cisco who grantedus fifty thousand dollars through that Global Problem
Solve challenge which allowed us to buildour MVP, which we currently have at
our testing stage and are looking foragain additionally U users, pilot partners and
so forth, because we really feelthat this tool is one that can revolutionize
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our healthcare system and really change theway we think about healthcare with regards how
communication without community members. Well,doctor gentsen' I really appreciate you sharing all
that, and my takeaway from alot of that in your dissertation about it
is that you did a lot ofcritical thinking, but you also had boots
on the ground and you were crowdsourcing, yes, to be a disruptor to
get better. And to your point, we're not going to change the health
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industry, but we can make joiningin a lot about easier for people that
might have difficulties in specifically what youhad talked about when entering a hospital or
anything like that. I think it'swonderful and I'm so happy that you're doing
this as we part of a wayfor our interview, and thank you so
much for your valuable time. Maybeto some words of advice for young people
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like yourself about moving forward and whenit comes to Ward Infinity and opportunities for
them in the future like you've had, and because we have a lot of
entrepreneurs that listen to this show aswell too that might be in your field,
but it could, I think forany field. Maybe to some advice
for them about about going into somethinglike this. Yeah, I would definitely
(18:08):
say the first is for a plugfor Ward Infinity. That application is available
to those who are interested and thatof course meet the eligibility criteria and it's
due on June twentieth, So that'sfirst. As for my advice to others
who were thinking about this, ifit's in your heart, it's in your
passion, first, definitely go forit. Some of the advice that my
business partners I have learned along theway is take your time, but hurry
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time is of the essence. Butgoing fast without focusing on or offering on
your offering or your value proposition andthe community you're designing for it can lead
to more challenges down the line,So that's something we really try to lean
in on and being sure to buildat JIZ Systems. Another really big one
for us was listening deeply and trustingyour instincts. It can be incredibly difficult
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to walk away from funding opportunities,which we've had to do being a woman
of color in this space, We'vehad some that were quite predatory, but
you know sure that we consider thecurrent landscape for entrepreneurs and especially considering any
challenges I may face as a womanor Minori founder, go with the gut,
remembering that no is a complete sentenceand being sure the whole, steady
to your integrity and use that experienceto learn and gain additional insight and walk
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away when things don't feel right.And last I'd probably say is definitely embracing
partnerships and seeking counsel when necessary.Not everyone will get your vision, but
work hard to be sure you buildthat team with support that's grounded and authentic
and trusting relationships, and part ofthat it starts with Al and Ward Infinity.
Part of that is also with AARPand now it's seat Spot with Cisco.
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And these are just people who theygot it and we leaned into them
and they're leaning back into us.And it's just really been amazing and to
continue to get that support to dowhat we can to disrupt, as you
so eloquently said, Dennis, andrevolutionize our community. So yeah, I
would say those are my pieces andjust go for it. Yeah, don't
hesitate, don't think about it,so very well said I appreciate your valuable
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timeline here, doctor Calicia Gentles,and she has joined us here on the
program. Thank you so much.And I hope we get a chance to
visit down the road today how youand your team are doing, because it's
just fascinating stuff. Awesome. Yes, I would love to do that,
And thank you so much, Dennis, and against you to Al for this
opportunity. All that was a wonderfulconversation with doctor General's and one of the
takeaways that I got is that herand her team their critical thinkers. They've
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got boots on the ground. AsI talked about, they were crowdsourcing for
their idea, and I guess asa layman, I'm blown away because I
understood exactly what she was doing.She you know, between the innovation and
disruption. She made it very clearthat they're not going to be able to
change the actual healthcare system that's waytoo complicated, but their own little small
(20:44):
part of the world for patients tomake just entry a little bit easier.
And what they were trying to dowas absolutely so cool. And I imagine
when you get to hear these ideas, these innovations, this is exactly why
you're doing what you do to getyoung people like them to make the system
just a little bit better for everybody. It's truly extraordinary, isn't it.
It is? And it's building awaybefore that community is building an eCos an
(21:08):
ecosystem that builds that. Steve Case, the founder of AOL and Revolution Health,
often talks about how it requires thatlevel of integration and for businesses and
for society to thrive. He didsome years ago something called the Rise of
(21:32):
the Rest And when you listen tohim talk about that and if you're part
of that effort, what are thethings he learned which mimics what we are
doing in our small part of theworld in Washington, DC. It's about
connecting committed individuals like doctor Gentle's,which she has right now. You know,
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some like fifty colleagues that will graduatesof the John Upkins what Infinity program
that are now follows with her andcontinue to build that ecosystem that gives her
and others resources so that they notonly solve for problems of their immediate surrounding,
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but it begins to grow and strengthenthe fabric of the community. So
that's that's you know what. Ihave a unique opportunity to help build and
to strengthen solves. I know partnersare important. How is all this funded
out hard working and grit it is, you know, we we have as
you can imagine the funding for entrepreneurshipand and and accelerators such as minds.
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It is competing with a lot ofothers throughout and oftentimes when you think about
my audience being black and brown individualswho only get one to two percent of
capital and investment in this country,that also reflects back to my work organized
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in the effort because ultimately my customers, Adams, black and brown folks are
in DC. So fortunately we havea couple of foundations that have been very
helpful and resourceful. The Jaine BancroftRobinson Foundation has been with us from day
one. The Sibley Foundation. SibyHospital is one of John Hopkins Hospital has
(23:26):
been very helpful in this. Thisyear, we were fortunate to get a
partnership with Verizon and they are providingsome small funding to do something really unique.
And I'll take time at this momentto invite your audience to come check
out that what is what their partnershipis yielding. On Thursday, the twentieth
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of June, we are hosting awhat we call the PowerShift event, and
that is about helping DC residents andanyone who shows up for this free event
how to use technology to improve theirhealth journey. So we do different topics,
but this Thursday at the Arc inSoutheast Washington, d C. We're
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expecting hundreds of folks to come inand listen to experts talk provide concrete,
tangible tools and tips of how toimprove their health journey. And Verizon has
been a phenomenal partner with us onthis. So you will now have as
part of this panel conversation Johns Hopkinsexperts like doctor Ian McCalla and experts from
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Verizon on health equity at nat Sineand so it will be a fascinating event.
And I hope we can share thatwhich event bright with your audience so
that they can come in and learnabout what that is ill in the community
and al they had time to jotthat down, Is there somewhere they can
(25:02):
get that information and just a littlebit more information about the events or a
website or a social media page theycan go to. Yeah, it's on
our LinkedIn page, you know,the War Infinity John Hopkins University and Medicine
Ward Infinity LinkedIn page. It maybe listened as JAUM War Infinity. We
also have it on our website whichis part of the John Hopkins Sibilly Hospital.
(25:26):
So it's a page. It's inthere. If you do an easy
search in there, it will copup. It will pop up as the
War Infinity page and you'll get informationabout that event and the program overall.
You know, doctor Gentles is justone little cog and so many great people
you mentioned her team alone that havebeen a part of War Infinity. And
I know for you as an innovationperson, and trying to grow things not
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only for people of color and womenand all the opportunities that they might not
have had that they are starting tohave, which is incredible lots of room
to grow in that field. Iknow you're always looking down the road.
Other's times you have to look rightat today, whether it's maybe funding or
things like that. But I knowyou're also looking down the road with your
team. So as we look inthe next two, five, ten years,
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what are you hoping happens here?A number of big things. And
over the next two years, weare going to work with the John work
with the John Hopkins University AI Instituteto make sure that my audience are also
part of understanding the impact that AIcan have, both positively and negatively and
(26:33):
be prepared to manage that. Andso that's a big piece of what I
hope to add to our curriculum ofhelping these entrepreneurs build their business, help
in showing that what we understand theimpact that AI will have, is that
they prepared to use it or leverageit, but also protect themselves and the
(26:56):
communities from any of the negative impactthat AIO, any tool can have on
a community. All Right, Well, let's do this. We have to
wrap up at thirty minutes. Doesa new justice to what you're doing,
l But I really appreciate your timeas well as doctor Gentle's. But let's
do this. Just maybe a finaltakeaway in the last two minutes you have
for listeners as we recap everything,and then let's give the website once again
(27:18):
if somebody wants to look into wardInfinity. But it's some final thoughts from
you for our listeners. If youcould final choice number one, go to
our website. And if you havean idea, if you have a solution
that you have activated in business andit's registered in DC, we want to
invite you to consider enroll in ourentrepreneurship program. It's a social entrepreneurship accelerator
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and you'll find it on our websiteunder day John Hopkins sibly dot edu website
Ward Infinity and Google search will showthat up at any point. So it's
one piece you want to encoura folks. We have applications or accepting applicants right
now to become a fellow, andwe will close applications on the twentyeth of
(28:08):
June. So that's the one piecewe'd like to encourage folks to do.
The other thing I'll tell I wantto tell the audience is especially for investors
who might be listening or have anopportunity here from others, a way to
build a fibrant United States. It'snot only small businesses, but entrepreneurship.
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Those two things together is what weare built on as a country, as
a citizenry, and we have aunique opportunity to ensure that those that don't
typically get to participate have an opportunityby investing in our entrepreneurship models like the
John Hopkins University and Medicine Ward Infinity, where my target is underrepresentative, underinvested
(28:55):
communities, typically black and brown folkswho have not been able to get their
solutions into the marketplace. Take achance on us and you'll see that we
have a lot to offer and helpthem make to the next step. Well,
you're doing extraordinary work, man,and I just love what you do
because it's creative. I know it'shard work, but advocating working with young
(29:17):
people, people of color, womengetting opportunities. I've got a daughter,
so you know, any kind ofrole model, especially in your industry,
is really a great thing. DoctorGentles just seems like she's button up with
her team and very cool and Ihope the best for her. Really appreciate
your time, but thank you,and I want to revisit with you because
I know that things are very fluidfor what you do, especially when it
comes to Wardon Infinity and all thegreat people that come through the program.
(29:38):
So thank you so much for joiningus on Community d C. Continue success
and we'll visit again. Dennis canthank you enough. Appreciate the opportunity to
shared a vision and the work thatwe're trying to get done here and remind
it to your audience that talent iseverywhere. What we've got to do is
create opportunities for them to exercise thattalent. Thank you, well said