Graduate School of Public Health Creates Endowed Fund Honoring Contributions of First African American Student
PITTSBURGH, November 14, 2003 The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) has established the Dr. Edgar and Lauraine Duncan Endowed Fund for Student Resources.
Dr. Duncan, who has most recently served as project director of the Partners in Education Consortium at GSPH, was the first African American student at GSPH as well as the first African American commissioned as a pharmacist in the U.S. Public Health Service, and the first African American chief pharmacist at a USPHS hospital. In 1972, he also was the first pharmacist promoted to the rank of assistant surgeon general, where he spent five years.
In 1982, Dr. Duncan became the first GSPH graduate to serve in the schools senior administration as associate dean for academic affairs. In this position he developed and instituted the Public Health Careers Opportunity Program for minority and disadvantaged students and served as the affirmative action officer for the school.
He was recently honored at a reception at the Twentieth Century Club in Oakland, which was attended by more than 250 of his academic colleagues, friends, industry and non-profit leaders and family members. The reception was co-chaired by Philip Hallen, president-emeritus of the Maurice Falk Medical Fund; and Loren Roth, M.D., associate senior vice chancellor of the health sciences at the University of Pittsburgh.
It is with great pleasure that we begin this fund in honor of a man who has contributed so much to society and to GSPH, said Bernard D. Goldstein, M.D., dean of GSPH. This fund will offer permanent financial support to deserving masters or doctorate students at the Graduate School of Public Health who have demonstrated need, with priority given to the disadvantaged. Awards can provide a broad range of student support including books and fees, research support, stipends and travel.
To make a contribution to the Duncan Fund, contact Karen Crenshaw, director of development at GSPH, A661 Crabtree Hall, 130 DeSoto St., Pittsburgh, Pa., 15261, 412-624-5639, or email crenshaw@pitt.edu.