McCune Smith Cordice Medical Society August 9, 2025, General Assembly Meeting.

The McCune Smith Cordice Medical Society met on August 9, 2025 at Chez Mireille Restaurant for its third annual general assembly meeting.

The meeting was called to order by the president at 7:15 PM.

The minutes of the previous meeting on April 26, 2025, were reviewed and approved.

All new members and first-time attendees were acknowledged and introduced to the society. They were all invited to formally join the society.

Best wishes for happy birthday were offered to Dr. Lynn O’Connor and Dr. Allen Toles. We all rejoiced at the birth of the newest member of the Lufulwabo family. We also celebrated Dr. Monique De Four Jones for receiving the Women in Medicine Award at the 2025 National Medical Association Convention, Dr Satterfield for being elected Vice-President of the Medical Society of the State of New York and Dr. Guitelle St-Victor for being honored by the American Psychiatric Association at its Annual Convention in May 2025.

Finally, we were all elated that Dr. Christian Laurent was accepted to a Residency in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky and Dr. Franky Jacque to a Family Medicine Residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago.

In his opening remarks, the President reminded the audience the vision and goals of the McCune Smith Cordice Medical Society, regarding individual growth, community health, advocacy and mentoring, emphasizing policies impacting minority physicians and our communities.

In particular, he stressed an alarming statistic regarding the rapid shrinkage of the number of black male students applying to medical schools and consequently the near disappearance of black male physicians in residency program. He reminded the group of the impact that members of the McCune Smith Cordice Medical Society can have by serving as role models both in the community and the schools, by offering shadowing and mentoring opportunities at all levels of individual growth and formation and finally by providing support for the young physicians applying for residencies or in the midst of their training.

The next item on the agenda was the report of the Treasurer who informed us that our society was in compliance with the IRS for the fiscal year 2024.

The guest speaker for the occasion was Dr. Benjamin Nwosu, Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology at the Cohen Children Hospital of the Northwell Health System. His presentation on Vitamin D and non-skeletal health was well received, as proven by the long Q&A session that ensued. A beautiful plaque thanking him for his participation was presented to him.

Next, the members sat down for their dinner.

Then the committee reports followed, starting with the membership committee, whose chair, Dr. Roxanne Connell, made a plea for members to make greater use of the website for paying membership dues and contributions for our quarterly dinners and for registering or renewing their membership. This will facilitate a more accurate tally of the members and a more exact account of the dues.

Dr. Carmen Rodriguez and Dr. Sonya Ventour reported on behalf of the mentoring and community affairs committees that they participated in a career day event at the J. W. Dodd Middle School in Freeport, along with Drs, St-Victor, Germain, and Buck-Haskin. They also took part in a Community Health and Wellness Fair at PS 330, in Queens, NY, along with Drs. Auguste, Belzie, De Four Jones, Hippolyte, Joseph, Laroche, Satterfield, Satterfield, Toles and Williams.

As a follow up to a question raised at the last meeting concerning alternative to the current meeting venue that we have used for the past two and a half years, the president reported on six different restaurants in the area, their charges per person, the parking availability and the geographic convenience of access. Chez Mireille’s restaurant still appeared to be our best option and the group agreed to continue to meet at the same location.

Finally, a raffle took place with three prizes generously offered by Dr. Rodriguez and the winners were all delighted.

The group then voted to hold our next session on 10/25/2025 and the meeting adjourned at 9:45 PM.