Opportunity Realized
Grad increases minority health and disparity awareness
Photo courtesy of Von Best Whitaker
In the coastal town of New Bern, North Carolina, there lived a woman with an old dream. One that, after the experience of the Great Depression and World War II, promised a better life and a better future for her and her family. Like many before her, the pathway to such a dream seemed clear: higher education.
As a native of the state, Lillie Best was no stranger to the reputation of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her dream school, but the times and her African-American ethnicity would prove a barrier; it was the 1940s and Carolina was segregated. Instead, Best earned her degree from Elizabeth City State College and moved her family to New York. Her hopes of attending Carolina faded, but not forever.
Von Best Whitaker, her only child, would one day fulfill that dream.
After earning her master's degree in nursing from the University of Maryland, Whitaker decided to pursue an advanced degree in psychology. Whitaker's mother encouraged her to consider UNC-Chapel Hill.
“My mother always loved North Carolina and talked about Carolina, so I applied not only for myself, but for her as well,” Whitaker says.
When she received her acceptance letter, Whitaker and her parents were elated. Not only would she be attending a prestigious institution, but she would have the opportunity to move from Maryland back to North Carolina, closer to her family.
Needless to say, Whitaker accepted Carolina's offer.
“My mother always loved North Carolina and talked about Carolina, so I applied not only for myself, but for her as well.”
Whitaker earned her Ph.D. in 1983 and now puts her many skills to use as a Research Associate Professor at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University School of Nursing. With specializations in health care disparities, community health and ophthalmic nursing, she spends a great deal of her time addressing the health status and visual medical needs of minorities in the state. To date, Whitaker—along with a colleague at Johns Hopkins University—is the primary investigator of a $2.3 million National Institutes of Health grant and serves as co-director of the Center of Health Disparities Research Center at the N.C. A&T School of Nursing.
“My graduate degree from UNC-Chapel Hill definitely supported me in the work I do. The Psychology program taught me skills that I use now as a professor, grant reviewer, author and editor. I'm also able to mentor others at A&T to do the same because Carolina mentored me. I attended small seminars and took courses with distinguished, world-renowned professors,” Whitaker says. “The Graduate School provided me with a solid program.”
In 2008, Whitaker received the Research Nurse of the Year award from the North Carolina Nurses Association and an Outstanding Manuscript award from the American Society of Ophthalmic Registered Nurses, both of which recognized her research and written academic work. Whitaker's research will be published in an academic journal and a book chapter this year.
Grateful for all that she has received, Whitaker actively gives back to her fellow North Carolinians. She is dedicated to educating the public on the importance of annual eye exams.
“People do not fully appreciate their eyes until they are older and they do not notice their eyes until there is a problem with them,” says Whitaker. “I volunteer because I am concerned with eliminating health barriers and health care disparity in the state, particularly for minorities.”
Overall, Whitaker believes choosing Carolina's Psychology program enabled her to do what she does today. For Whitaker, her education at Carolina was both mentally and spiritually satisfying. Not only did it provide her with the chance to fulfill her mother's dream, but the University also gave Whitaker the opportunity to develop and achieve her own goals.
“The education and training that I received at UNC-Chapel Hill has served me well because the program and its faculty took the skills that I possessed and enhanced them fivefold,” says Whitaker. “My solid doctorate degree opened doors for me and expanded my entire knowledge base. I definitely selected the right school and I am very appreciative for every opportunity that I've received as a result of that choice.”
“My mother always loved North Carolina and talked about Carolina, so I applied not only for myself, but for her as well.”
• Tiffany N. White