HJAR Jul/Aug 2023

DIALOGUE 18 JUL / AUG 2023 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS Dianne Hartley, Editor Thank you for your time, Dr. Verret. One might say that you are the epitome of the American dream — a Haitian refugee turned Ivy League grad- uate, doctorate at MIT, and postgraduate work at Yale and MIT, and now you hap- pen to be the president of a university. Tell us about your journey, what you learned at each stage, and how those experiences affected you. President Reynold Verret, PhD Well, I know that my journey began with the encour- agement and support of elders when I explained to them that I had interest in sci- ence and who basically gave me permission and encouragement to continue. There are a number of people who have stepped into that role both in my early years and even high school and college years. Basically, I can say that I’m the benefit of the kindness of many strangers, some of them known and unknown. But the important pieces also were my passions and my motivations, which began early in life. I’m not unusual in that respect, but I was essentially given space to explore them and develop them. That’s important. The arrival at Xavier, I think, is the con- tinuing of a commitment not only to the joy of teaching and educating, but also, espe- cially in the sciences, replacing myself with other bright and talented young people who go on and do similar things, and better than I. I think that idea of actually educating and sending forth other talented students is no different from when I was a professor. I do it at Xavier on a different level, but we’re educating talent and sending it forward. That’s important to me, and I think that’s the important key point of my journey that takes me from the streets of Brooklyn to New Orleans. Editor What was it like to attend those Ivy League schools? President Verret First, if I look back at my days at Columbia, there was a lot of grow- ing up that happened because the 18-year- old who arrived there and the 23-year-old who left were different people. Many of the friends and brothers and sisters whom I encountered there remained friends in my important circle of brotherhood and sister- hood that goes back to that period of time. I think that’s important. The space where that privileged thinking and enjoying arcane subjects — whether it’s art, literature, or the sciences — the conversations that we would have on College Walk and that space that encouraged that sort of deep thinking, it was a space that was very privileged because it was very different from the anti-intellectual space that was in U.S. society. It was a space where you could be geeks ... and be geeks quite happily. That was a privileged space. The word “nerd” didn’t even exist at the time; I learned it later. It was a very enjoy- able space. I discovered mentors who actu- ally taught me some very important things and also opened doors for me, who helped me in my decision making about my future, about possibilities. There were the exam- ples of many people, professors and friends and colleagues, who actually made things possible in many ways — who helped us, but as we helped each other. So, I think that notion of being part of a community also comes out of my college days. Editor Xavier is the only historically Black university that is Catholic. What does it mean to be a historically Black university in this day and age? And do you feel that the Catholic lens changes the ultimate outcomes of Xavier’s students? President Verret Well, first I would say that those two elements are key elements, defin- ing our mission and our sense of purpose. First of all, the notion that we are histori- cally Black means that we are historically informed by the experience of the descen- dants of slaves, which is an important part of our society and is quite different from those who were not descended of slaves. We understand the people who actually made a space for themselves that was not easily granted to them. So, there’s a lot of history; there’s a lot of formation of traditions, peo- ple, and cultures from that as well. Being Catholic is important to us as well, because being Catholic comes from the sense of our Christian identity from both a large “C”Catholic, which means the Catho- lic church as one denomination of Christi- anity, but also from the small “c” Catholic, which means universal, which was an origi- nal meaning in the creed. That notion of universality means that we are to be of service rather than to serve everyone regardless of faith or denomina- tion or origin. That sense of mission and Xavier University of Louisiana, theonly historicallyBlackCatholic university in the U.S., recently announced a partnership with Ochsner Health System to establish a college of medicine. We sat down with Xavier’s president, Reynold Verret, PhD, to discuss, among other topics, what this expansion means to Xavier, our community, and ultimately patients.