“Mind/Matter: The Neuroscience of Perception, Attention, and Memory,” an exhibition at the Yale Peabody Museum, explores the wonders of human cognition by taking visitors on a journey through the historical and modern science of the brain. Visitors will learn how the brain is studied, what it is made of, how it builds our reality, and how discoveries about it are transforming our lives. The exhibit is on display at the Yale Peabody Museum through the end of the 2025 year. Watch the NBC Connecticut interview with April Pruitt, Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter member, here: https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/entertainment/ct-live/ct-live-mind-matter-the-neuroscience-of-perception-attention-and-memory/3498148/ Read more here: https://peabody.yale.edu/news/mind-matter-exhibition

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — News 8 is once again honoring Black history by looking at health care and the racial disparities many report facing. According to the Pew Research Center, overall, 18% of Black adults report poor health, and Black Americans have higher rates of death from cancer and higher maternal mortality rates for both women and infants. A majority of Black Americans say they’ve had at least one negative interaction with a health care provider, like pain not being taken seriously, being rushed through treatment, or needing to speak up to get the proper care. A disease known to cause extreme pain for patients is sickle cell disease. It primarily impacts people of color. Dr. Cece Calhoun [Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter Member], the medical director of the Adult Sickle Cell Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital, describes how patients often have painful episodes. “I can’t see somebody and know they have sickle cell,” she said. “I can’t know they’re having pain.” The genetic blood disease causes red blood cells to be shaped like a crescent or sickle, preventing oxygen from getting where it needs to go. “It affects every organ in your body,” Calhoun said. “Most notably, we think about debilitating pain, but sickle cell can affect the brain, eyes, lungs, and every part of the body.” That pain can be hard to explain to doctors. “Being an African American, encountering health and health care, I think there is a health care system that’s really finding its way in how to care for patients the best,” Calhoun said. “Then you layer on that a genetic disorder that causes pain. You can’t look at someone and say, ‘Yes, you’re having pain.’ You have to believe what they say, and I think that requires trust.” The cause of the disease was first discovered in 1908, and there are still only a handful of treatments, but there is new hope in gene therapy. “With gene therapy, you serve as your own donor,” Calhoun said. “What happens is I would take someone’s stem cells out of their blood and outside of their blood change them to make a hemoglobin that doesn’t sickle or to make more fetal hemoglobin, then I give them back to that person, effectively curing their disease.” Blood donations also remain a critical resource. “When we think about blood and blood donation, it’s really important to get a diverse donor pool because blood is our ace in the whole,” Calhoun said. “When our patients are critically ill, we give them blood.” Whatever the treatment, the goal for Calhoun and her team is to continue advocating for those living with the disease. “Historically, we have been this population has been underlooked by the health care system or in general,” said Joanna Cole, a sickle cell nurse practitioner at Smilow Cancer Hospital. “It’s important for us to advocate and raise awareness. Sickle cell is real. “We always say it’s our goal to keep our patients healthy and safe, but the next part is to see them not just alive and surviving but thriving,” Calhoun said. https://www.wtnh.com/hidden-history/black-history-month/black-history-month-sickle-cell-disease-research-underway-at-yale

The New Haven Pearls of Excellence Foundation with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter, is offering a four-year scholarship, up to $6,000, to a graduating senior in the top third of their class. The applicant must verify their acceptance to and attendance at an accredited post-secondary school or college. The applicant must reside in New Haven or the Greater New Haven area. Students applying must e-mail a completed application and required documents by March 14, 2025. View Post Download the Application here: 2025 Scholarship Application Read more about our scholarship programs here: Scholarship Programs

Markeshia Ricks | January 15th, 2025 The New Haven members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. traded their signature pink and green for the sparkle and shine of diamonds to celebrate 60 years of service in the Elm City. Fifteen women chartered the Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter of AKA in January 1965 and a crowd of well-wishers and celebrants gathered at The Woodwinds in Branford Saturday to mark the occasion, which was themed “Diamonds are Forever: Sparkling at 60.” “Did you get the theme,” Adrienne Dean-Parkmond, the 21st and current chapter president, quipped to the crowd while wearing a resplendent floor-length, shoulder-bearing, silver sequined dress. “We are celebrating 60 years of Black excellence, sprinkled with pink and green Black girl magic and service to all mankind.” Dean-Parkmond noted for the assembled that the chapter’s chartering, much like the celebration of its diamond jubilee year, happened during harrowing times nationally and internationally. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was calling for a civil rights demonstration in Selma, Ala. The year prior, King had received the Nobel Peace Prize, and then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had ascended to the highest office of the land after his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated, had signed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. “It was a tumultuous time but they were ready and began their service in the New Haven community,” Dean-Parkmond said of the charter members. “Today as we celebrate our chapter’s historic milestone we realize that the greatest tribute we can pay is continued service to all mankind. Then and now, the members of Theta Epsilon Omega will always come together and stand in the vanguard, ready to address the issues of our current times.” One of those 15 charter members, Jean Patterson-Downing, was in the room Saturday. She is the last living Theta Epsilon Omega charter member and was among those honored for their vision and their service at the celebration. Patterson-Downing, who cheekily identified her age as “59 in reverse,” said that it made her proud to know that the chapter she had helped bring to New Haven not only lives on but also continues to serve its community with distinction. Elicia Pegues Spearman, a former Theta Epsilon Chapter president who now serves the sorority as its North Atlantic regional director while also holding down the role of CEO of Girl Scouts of Connecticut, said the chapter set a blazing course of leadership and excellence that has yet to abate. “Six decades have been spent upholding the principles and ideals of the world’s greatest sorority—sorry to everyone else that’s here,” she said, drawing a laugh from the members of other historically Black sororities and fraternities in the room. “We represent the greatest sorority while attending to the hopes, dreams, and needs of those touched by this chapter’s magic.” Many Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter members do that work and spread their magic while wearing other important hats in their community. Prominent New Haven AKAs include Greater New Haven Branch of the NAACP President Dori Dumas, newly appointed Elm City Communities Executive Director Shenae Draughn, and prominent public scholar, professor, and executive director of Wesleyan University’s Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, Khalilah Brown-Dean. “From our charter members to our newest initiates, the women of Theta Epsilon Omega serve Greater New Haven with passion, persistence, and pride,” said Brown-Dean who also is a former president of the chapter and the host of the award-winning Connecticut Public Radio program and podcast, “Disrupted.” “This sisterhood has never just been about pretty tea parties—although we do know how to throw a good party and our tea is always piping hot. “Our purpose is inspired by the belief that, in order to lead, you must be willing to serve,” she said. “So we serve.” From promoting awareness of the health care challenges that disproportionately impact the Black community and addressing challenges that impact the continent of Africa, Brown-Dean said AKAs prioritize service, no matter what is happening in the world and who is in the White House. “This year as the country pauses to inaugurate a new president, you will find the women of Theta Epsilon Omega not wallowing in a corner, but serving,” she said. But first, with their trademarked pinkies to the sky, and sparkling silver dresses reflecting the light, they strolled into the room to open up the dance floor chanting to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” https://www.newhavenarts.org/arts-paper/articles/new-haven-akas-sparkle-at-60