TOKENS PODCAST: S4E6
“Health inequities started with slavery.” In his work on healthcare, social justice, and issues of access, Dr. Quincy Byrdsong has paid special attention to the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis trials, in which men who had been promised “free treatment” were instead used: for the purpose of watching the havoc that the untreated disease would cause in their bodies. “There was a scientist that was involved in the study,” reported Dr. Byrdsong, “that said that the Negro serves a better purpose in the laboratory than in the classroom.” The conversation also turned personal: “how do you as an African-American man,” I asked him, “deal with these issues? How do you navigate what I would speculate are sort of natural human emotions of anger…. What's that been like for you?” His responses are moving and inspiring.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Dr. Quincy J. Byrdsong is the Vice Provost for Health Affairs at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. He has operational responsibility for providing the full spectrum of leadership for the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences to include fostering a vision consistent with the spiritual and educational mission of Lipscomb. Dr. Byrdsong is responsible for cultivating relationships and building partnerships externally, elevating the visibility of the College and creating greater opportunities for collaborative partnerships between the College, industry, and other organizations with common interests in improving public health.
Before coming to Lipscomb, Dr. Byrdsong served as the Associate Vice President for Research Administration at Wellstar Health System, the largest health system in the state of Georgia. In this role, Dr. Byrdsong served as the Institutional Official and Chief Research Administration Officer with operational oversight of all research administration activity and served as the liaison to pharmaceutical sponsors and other funding agencies. Dr. Byrdsong has served in several capacities in academic affairs and health sciences education. He held the role of Vice President for Academic Planning and Strategic Initiatives at Augusta University where he was the institution’s Chief Academic Planning Officer and oversaw strategic partnerships with the Augusta and surrounding communities. He also served as the Associate Vice President for Academic and Research Affairs for Health Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). At VCU, Dr. Byrdsong was the Chief Health Sciences Academic Officer with academic oversight of the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Health Professionals. Dr. Byrdsong has also held positions at Morehouse School of Medicine, and locally, at Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Byrdsong started his career as a Science teacher in the Williamson County (TN) School System. Dr. Byrdsong is an avid public speaker and frequently speaks to audiences around the world on the topics of health sciences education, clinical trial administration, and research ethics.
Dr. Byrdsong received his Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in Biology from Middle Tennessee State University as well as his Specialist in Education.At MTSU, Dr. Byrdsong was in the very first cohort of Patricia Roberts Harris Fellows in Biology.Dr. Byrdsong went on to received his Doctor of Education degree from Tennessee State University.He is a Certified IRB Professional and a Certified Clinical Research Professional.Dr. Byrdsong is also currently the President of the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA) and a Member of the Board of Directors for the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protections Programs (AAHRPP).
ABOUT TOKENS SHOW & LEE C. CAMP
Tokens began in 2008. Our philosophical and theological variety shows and events hosted throughout the Nashville area imagine a world governed by hospitality, graciousness and joy; life marked by beauty, wonder and truthfulness; and social conditions ordered by justice, mercy and peace-making. We exhibit tokens of such a world in music-making, song-singing, and conversations about things that matter. We have fun, and we make fun: of religion, politics, and marketing. And ourselves. You might think of us as something like musicians without borders; or as poets, philosophers, theologians and humorists transgressing borders.
Lee is an Alabamian by birth, a Tennessean by choice, and has sojourned joyfully in Indiana, Texas, and Nairobi. He likes to think of himself as a radical conservative, or an orthodox liberal; loves teaching college and seminary students at Lipscomb University; delights in flying sailplanes; finds dark chocolate covered almonds with turbinado sea salt to be one of the finest confections of the human species; and gives great thanks for his lovely wife Laura, his three sons, and an abundance of family and friends, here in Music City and beyond. Besides teaching full-time, he hosts Nashville’s Tokens Show, and has authored three books. Lee has an Undergrad Degree in computer science (Lipscomb University, 1989); M.A. in theology and M.Div. (Abilene Christian University, 1993); M.A. and Ph.D. both in Christian Ethics (University of Notre Dame, 1999).
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