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Lucia Johnson, a third-year dental student at CWRU, has addressed
the Congressional Black Caucus during its Annual Legislative Conference
at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., about
the need for financial support to increase the number of minorities
entering dentistry.
Johnson, 23, is a native of Cleveland and in 2000 earned her
bachelor's degree in biology from CWRU. The invitation to talk
follows her recent election to a one-year term as vice president
of the Student National Dental Association during the organization's
annual convention in Dallas, Texas. In her new position, she will
help plan next year's student convention and work with other student
organizations to recruit minority students into dentistry.
During her appearance before the Congressional Black Caucus,
she gave an eight-minute presentation for the panel discussion,
"The Corrosion of the Health Professional Pipeline." She was invited
to speak by U.S. Representative Donna M. Christensen from the
Virgin Islands.
Johnson will describe the kinds of support and encouragement
she has received from CWRU's dental school and how these efforts
need to be replicated to help other minorities enter dentistry.
During her undergraduate education at CWRU, Johnson had the opportunity
to visit the dental school, sit in on classes and observe the
private practices of dentists Jefferson Jones, Francis Curd, Norman
DeLoach and Joseph Walker.
Jones has mentored her throughout her educational career.
"I only knew dentistry as a patient, but then I started to see
dentistry as a profession," she said.
As the third youngest in a family of eight children, Johnson
explained that she would not have been able to attend dental school
without the support of the National Dental Association Foundation,
Forest City Dental Society and the Plain Dealer and CWRU scholarship
for a minority scholar. She also attributes the help and support
of her mother, Judith, as a role model and best friend. In the
first two years of dental school, Johnson worked two jobs to help
her mother, Judy, with family expenses.
"I'm proud and blessed to receive the scholarship. It is a one-time
thing. I would like to encourage local and national corporations
and organizations to sponsor other deserving students so they
might succeed in their endeavors," Johnson said.
Johnson, a 1997 graduate of Collinwood High School where she
was president of her senior class, likes to talk to Cleveland
school children about dentistry.
"Community education is instrumental in grasping the interest
and desire of young children to purse a profession in dentistry,"
she said.
She adds that if students are uneducated about the profession,
they may never learn about the opportunities in dentistry.
Since Johnson's first year of dental school, she has returned
to Collinwood to talk to students in the advanced placement biology
class on dentistry as a career, how to set goals and plan for
the future. She also has combined oral hygiene lessons with career
talks for students at Cleveland's Gracemount Elementary School
and Thomas Jefferson Middle School where her sister Amelia Johnson
teaches seventh grade mathematics.
Johnson's career goal is to establish a practice in Cleveland
and fund a program that reaches out to high school students and
teaches them about dentistry as a career.
"When we educate and help others, we uplift our community as
a whole," she said
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