Local disease specialist selected as local recipient of Simeon Booker Award
A local disease specialist has been selected as the local recipient of the Simeon Booker Award for courage.
The award is given to an individual who exhibits the courage and tenacity of Simeon Booker, a former Youngstown native. Booker is a South High School alumnus and became the first Black reporter for the Washington Post before moving to Jet Magazine.
Awardee, Dr. Virginia "Dee" Banks is an infectious disease specialist in Youngstown. Dr. Banks spent the past two years educating the public on COVID-19, as well as the disparities and access to the delivery of quality health care.
Dr. Banks graduated Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1974. She's been in practice for 43 years. She's currently in practice at the Northeast Ohio Infectious Disease Association in Youngstown.
She's also served as Associate Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine at NEOMED, Director of UPMC HORIZON Wound Care Center and Director of Division of Infectious Disease at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.
The Simeon Booker Award for Courage event will be held on October 6 at 7:00 p.m. in the Chestnut Room in Youngstown State University's Kilcawley Center during Ohio Nonviolence Week. The event is free and open to the public.
Additionally, a reception will be held before the event at 5:30 p.m. This costs $25 to attend.
Parking for both events will be in the M81 lot across from the Watson Tressel sports facility.