Barron appointed to national Minority
Women's Health Panel
Mia Barron, R.N., nurse coordinator for the Sea Island community and
lupus studies in the Rheumatology and Immunology Division of the
Department of Medicine, was appointed to a national federal panel last
month. Due to her involvement in planning and coordinating community
outreach programs to support the Sea Island Genetic African-American
Family Registry (Project SUGAR) and lupus studies in her division,
Barron was invited to speak in June to the Minority Women’s Health
Panel. The group is an advisory panel for the federal government’s
Department of Health and Human Services, chaired by the director of the
Office of Women’s Health. Composed of 30 individuals, the panel was so impressed by Barron and her presentation that she was invited to become a permanent member. The panel meets twice a year in Washington, D.C. to provide guidance on issues in Minority Women’s Health that should be emphasized. Lupus is one of four diseases being considered for emphasis next year.
Mia Barron“Lupus is very difficult to diagnose, but if it is caught early, the outcome is so much better,” Barron said. “It exhibits vague symptoms that people don’t immediately attribute to the disease and sometimes physicians just aren’t familiar with it, so they don’t diagnose it. People are dying senselessly from it because of a lack of awareness and knowledge of the disease and we’re hoping that increased education can help change that.”
Barron, a native of the Sea Island community herself, felt a strong pull to help care for and educate those in her community. “I just felt that because I grew up there, knew the families and histories, that I could really help to get the messages across and help to make the projects better in and of themselves.”
“The rheumatology division and the lupus study group are extremely proud of Mia’s accomplishments and her appointment to the Minority Women’s Health Panel,” said Gary Gilkeson, M.D., rheumatology and Immunology professor. “Mia has done an outstanding job of establishing and maintaining a trustful working relationship with the community regarding lupus awareness and lupus studies. She worked independently in setting up numerous community forums regarding lupus education and a lupus support group. She is recognized in the community as a source for information and help for lupus. I am sure that the Minority Women’s Health Panel will benefit from her insight and expertise. She is highly deserving of this appointment and we are honored to have her as an integral part of our lupus studies group.”
For information about the panel, visit http://www.womenshealth.gov/owh/minority.htm#mwhpe.
Friday, July 29, 2005
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