Get Healthy Harlem

Vickie Powell, MS, RPh, a busy pharmacy director at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, received a wake-up call from her doctor and took charge of her health.

We sat down with Dr. Hutcherson to talk about how sex is an important part of overall health.

Rabia Tahir, Pharm.D is a pharmacist and professor at Touro College of Pharmacy located on 125th Street in the heart of Harlem. She comes from a family of doctors and pharmacists, and loves teaching. As a young adult she was a tutor and began her teaching career during her residency at Long Island University Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences. After that, she became a faculty member at St. John's University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions in Queens. She also served as an adjunct faculty at College of Mount Saint Vincent Nursing School. Two years later, she joined the faculty at Touro College of Pharmacy. Here she talks about how Touro is different from other graduate pharmacy programs-and how Touro is trying to change the way that pharmacists serve patients.

Dr. Mary Bassett is the Deputy Director of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

From 2024 – 2024, Dr. Bassett served as the Deputy Director of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene overseeing the District Public Health Program and the bureaus of Chronic Disease, Tobacco Control, School Health, Minority Health, and Maternal Infant and Reproductive Health. Originally from New York City, she graduated from Harvard and Columbia Universities and completed her medical training at Harlem Hospital Center. She serves as an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Public Health and recently returned to her passion of promoting primary health care in Africa. She is now with the Doris Duke Foundation and is serving as the Associate Director for its African Health Initiative.

Mental health and illness is a serious issue, particularly among African American, Latino and other minority groups. Dr. Stephanie LeMelle is a psychiatry professor at Columbia University, with a private psychiatric practice in Northern Manhattan.