Saturday Mornings with Joy Keys

**Dr. Constance Okeke received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Yale and trained in ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins. She completed her glaucoma fellowship training as a Heed Research Fellow at the prestigious Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of University of Miami. She became a clinician scientist under a National Institute of Health K12 grant at the Scheie Eye Institute of University of Pennsylvania, where she also earned a Master of Science degree in clinical epidemiology. She has practiced ophthalmology with a specialty in glaucoma and cataract surgery since 2001.

Dr. Okeke single-handedly pioneered micro-invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) at Virginia Eye Consultants in the southern Virginia Hampton Roads region. In 2009, she was the first in the area to perform Trabectome surgery and was the first in the country to combine this advanced technology in glaucoma with the femtosecond laser, allowing the surgery to be performed without a blade.

**Opthamologist Dr. Leslie Jones-Dr. Jones is an associate professor in the College of Medicine and serves as the residency program director and director of Glaucoma Services in the department. Dr. Jones completed her medical degree in 1996 and ophthalmology residency in 2000 at Howard University and Howard University Hospital, followed by a fellowship in glaucoma at Wills Eye Hospital, the country’s oldest eye hospital located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

 

Dr. Jones is the recipient of the American Glaucoma Society Clinician Scientist Award 2005. Her research focuses on the genetic epidemiology of glaucoma, the evaluation of current and innovative glaucoma medical and surgical therapies, and use of on-line simulation as an adjunct to traditional ophthalmic clinical skills training.

Bio: Buki Papillon was born in Nigeria, the oldest of six. After studying law at Hull University in the UK, she completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has received several fellowships and awards for her writing and is an alumnus of Key West Literary, Vermont Studio Centre and Vona Voices residencies and workshops. Her work was published in Post Road Magazine and the Del Sol Review. She has in the past been a travel adviser, events host and chef. Buki currently lives in Boston, where she is resigned to finding inspiration in the long winters.

An extraordinary literary debut about a Nigerian boy’s secret intersex identity and her desire to live as a girl, Buki Papillon’s An Ordinary Wonder draws from art, proverbs, and folktales to present a deeply moving queer coming of age story.

The Yoruba people of Nigeria have an extraordinarily high rate of twins, and a mythology to match – the story of Taiwo and Kehinde, the one who came first, and the one who lagged behind. In Papillon’s story, we follow another set of twins, Otolorin – one who walks a different path; and Wuraola – a wealth of gold.

Bria Samoné Henderson can currently be seen playing 'Dr. Jordan Allen' in David Shore's hit medical drama series THE GOOD DOCTOR for ABC. She also appeared as the radical feminist and "Ms. Magazine" editor, Margaret Sloan, in the FX for Hulu critically acclaimed limited series MRS. AMERICA, opposite Cate Blanchett, Niecy Nash, Uzo Aduba, and Sarah Paulson. In 2021, Bria was nominated by Niecy Nash for the Women in Film Pathmaker Grant. She also appeared in the short film PREPARED and won the award for "Outstanding Comedic Actress (Short Film)" at the Micheaux Film Festival. In between acting gigs, Bria executive produced, wrote, and starred in the pilot VIRGINALITY. The pilot is about the misadventures of a 30-ish year old virgin. Previously, Bria was chosen to be in the NBC Spotlight Diversity Showcase. She received her MFA in Acting from the University of Washington's Professional Actor Training Program and her B.A. in Drama at Spelman College.

DAWN TURNER is an award-winning journalist and novelist. A former columnist and reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Turner spent a decade and a half writing about race, politics and people whose stories are often dismissed and ignored. Turner, who served as a 2017 and 2018 juror for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary, has written commentary for The Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, CBS Sunday Morning News show, NPR’s Morning Edition show, the Chicago Tonight show, and elsewhere. She has covered national presidential conventions, as well as Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election and inauguration. Turner has been a regular commentator for several national and international news programs, and has reported from around the world in countries such as Australia, China, France, and Ghana. She spent the 2014–2015 school year as a Nieman Journalism fellow at Harvard University. In 2018, she served as a fellow and journalist-in-residence at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. Turner is the author of two novels, Only Twice I’ve Wished for Heaven and An Eighth of August. In 2018, she established the Dawn M. Turner and Kim D. Turner Endowed Scholarship in Media at her alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The animating question at the center of Dawn Turner’s profound, gorgeously written, and resonant memoirTHREE GIRLS FROM BRONZEVILLE  is: when did we lose them? Them being the author’s sister, Kim,and her best friend, Debra. One dead by 25, the other imprisoned for decades after killing a man. Why did they fall behind while another graduated college and became an award-winning journalist? Why was Dawn given grace to learn from her mistakes while Debra and Kim never recovered? Three Girls from Bronzeville is Dawn’s attempt to find answers.

NADIFA MOHAMED was born in 1981 in Hargeisa, Somaliland. At the age of four she moved with her family to London. She is the author of Black Mamba Boy and The Orchard of Lost Souls. She has received both The Betty Trask Award and the Somerset Maugham Award, and in 2013, she was named as one of Granta‘s Best of Young British Novelists. Her work appears regularly in The Guardian and the BBC. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she lives in London.

Her latest novel is called The Fortune Men. Mahmood Mattan is a fixture in Cardiff's Tiger Bay, 1952, which bustles with Somali and West Indian sailors, Maltese businessmen and Jewish families. He is a father, chancer, petty criminal. He is a smooth-talker with rakish charm and an eye for a good game. He is many things, but he is not a murderer.

Special guest:  American Diabetes Association Ambassador-

Anthony Wilson has long known about a heart condition that caused his heart to race, but the EMS professional was unaware of his type 2 diabetes until the day he nearly died. An Emergency Medical Technician for more than 33 years and current operations manager of an ambulance service, Anthony has always had a passion for helping others. As a national ambassador for Know Diabetes by Heart, Anthony adds his voice to the landmark collaboration between American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association to educate people like him about the link between type 2 diabetes and heart disease and stroke.  His professional experiences in EMS and personal experience with a diabetes crisis make Anthony well-aware of the dual threats of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Helping one person get tested for diabetes or encouraging one person living with type 2 to take care of their cardiovascular health is his goal.

 

Special Guest: Stephanie Chung, M.B.B.S., Clinical researcher from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the NIH. Dr. Chung is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, The Children's National Health System.  She is a Pediatric Endocrinologist – Faculty, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center/ Eunice Kennedy Shriver Fellowship Training Program NICHD, NIH.  The Institute;'s overall goal is to minimize the burden of diabetes health disparities across the lifespan through improving diabetes prevention and management. By elucidating the complex association of biological, social and environmental factors to the pathogenesis of cardiometabolic diseases, we will evaluate current paradigms and promote the development of novel screening and therapeutic strategies.

Samuel F. Reynolds, ISAR CAP, a former skeptic, had a life-changing visit to an astrologer and has since spent 30 years doing charts and studying astrology.

He currently serves on the board of directors for the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR) and the International Academy of Astrology. He’s also a co-founder of the International Society of Black Astrologers, and a faculty member for the International Academy of Astrology.

He’s written for multiple print and online outlets, including Ebony.com, horoscope.com, tarot.com, and New York Magazine. His home website is UnlockAstrology.com.

Namina Forna is a young adult novelist based in Los Angeles, and the author of the New York Times bestselling fantasy The Gilded Ones. Originally from Sierra Leone, West Africa, she moved to the US when she was nine and has been traveling back and forth ever since. Namina loves building fantastical worlds and telling stories with fierce female leads.

Whether Michael Mayo is performing with his band, as a guest, or alone with a looper pedal, the LA native’s commanding and other worldly vocalese is quickly gathering critical and commercial acclaim around the globe. Born to two successful musicians, Mayo grew up just a little more than 20 feet from the likes of Diana Ross, Luther Vandross, Earth Wind and Fire, and Stevie Wonder. This proximity helped Mayo create a musical path centered around elements of R&B, Soul and Jazz, forging his musical identity long before he hit the stage. Mayo attended the acclaimed Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, only the third vocalist to be accepted into the 20-year-old program, where he learned from the likes of Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Now living in Brooklyn, and still in his 20s, Mayo is a veteran international performer whose highlights include singing at the White House, the Kennedy Center and Renée Fleming’s American Voices Festival, as well as the Panama Jazz Festival. Most recently he has recorded and performed with Herbie Hancock, Jacob Collier, Kneebody, Gretchen Parlato, Josh Groban, Ben Wendel, and Becca Stevens among many others. His own band performance was a standout at the 2019 Playboy Jazz Festival, Atlanta Jazz Festival, and Monterey Jazz Festival. Signed to Mack Avenue/Artistry Records, Mayo’s debut record BONES, produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Eli Wolf (Norah Jones, Al Green, The Roots) was released on June 4th, 2021.

Christine Pride is a writer, editor and 20-year publishing veteran.  Over the course of her career, she’s held editorial posts at many different imprints, including Doubleday, Broadway, Crown, Hyperion, and, most recently, as a Senior Editor at Simon and Schuster, and published many bestselling and critically acclaimed books.  She's also a writer: her first novel, We Are Not Like Them, written with Jo Piazza was published by Atria Books in October.  She does select freelance writing and editorial work, and pens the "Race Matters" column and Cup of Jo. You can reach her at [email protected] or @cpride on Instagram.