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Honoree-
Velma Scantlebury-White
  One
of only a few female African-American transplant surgeons in the
world, Velma P. Scantlebury-White, M.D., associate professor of
surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Transplantation
Institute, is recognized not only for her clinical and research
contributions to the field of transplantation, but for her role
as an inspiration to young students, the African American community
and women pursuing careers in medicine. Her rise from Barbados schoolgirl
to her current position is a testament to access to the American
dream through excellence in education. At age 13, she settled with
her parents in Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant. Overcoming the
difficulties of an unfamiliar milieu, she won a four-year scholarship
to Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus as a pre-med major.
Upon completion of a bachelor’s degree in biology, she went
on to earn her medical degree from the Columbia University College
of Physicians and Surgeons followed by the completion of both an
internship and residency in general surgery at Harlem Hospital Center
in New York City. She began her work at the University of Pittsburgh
in 1986 as a clinical fellow in transplant surgery under the direction
of liver transplant pioneer Thomas E. Starzl, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Scantlebury-White’s research on pregnancy and reproduction
after transplant, FK506 in pediatric and adult kidney transplantation
and post transplant hypertension have been published and presented
at numerous scientific forums. She is a member of the American Society
of Transplant Surgeons and the American College of Surgeons, which
in 1994 named her a fellow. In addition, she serves on the Medical
Advisory Board and is vice-chairperson of the African American Outreach
Committee at the National Kidney Foundation of Western Pennsylvania.
Dr. Scantlebury-White received an honorary degree from Long Island
University in 1998. She and her husband, Dr. Harvey White, professor
of public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh,
have two children, Akela and Aisha.
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