Dr. L.H.B. Foote Lecture

Dr. Leonard Hobson Buchannan Foote
April 11, 1891 – May 31, 1993

Dr. Leonard Hobson Buchannan Foote was born April 11, 1891 in Cockeysville, Maryland, son of John L. and Emma A. Foote. He attended Foote’s Hill Elementary School at Cockeysville, and the State Normal School at Bowie, Maryland. He received his high school diploma from Baltimore Colored High School, his B.S. and M.D. degrees from Howard University. He did his medical internship at John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama.

In 1926, Dr. Foote accepted a number of positions at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College in include college physician, director of student health, medical director and administrator of Florida A&M University Hospital. He served as physician, director of student health and hospital administrator until 1949. He served as medical director until 1953.

Dr. Foote was Professor of Surgical Diseases for Nurses at FAMU from 1927-1951. He was radiologist from 1929-1951, and from 1929-1952, he was Professor of Materia Medical Drugs and Solutions for Nurses. For ten years, 1939-1949, Dr. Foote was co-chairman of fundraising in the campaign to build a new Florida A&M College Hospital, raising over two million dollars.

Over a fifty-year period, Dr. Foote held many prestigious honorary and voluntary positions with various institutions and association including:  surgical supervisor, general supervisor of clinics, and President of the John A. Andrew Clinical Society, Tuskegee, Alabama; first chairman of Negro Committee  of the State Tuberculosis and Health Association; President of Florida Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association of the State of Florida; secretary of medical staff of FAMU Hospital; member of the Trustee Board; member of the Committee of Awards, assistant secretary and director of the National Medical Association; and President of the Southeaster Medical Society.

Dr. Foote was elected to Who’s Who in American Education and Who’s Who Among Black Americans. He was a life member in the National Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and in the National Education Association of the United States. He was a member of the William Gunn Medical Society; Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; NAACP; Urban League; and a member of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was the co-founder of the School of Nursing and baccalaureate nursing program at Florida A&M College. Dr. Foote was married to the former Rosa Hilda Jones who preceded him in death on October 31, 1992.

Dr. Foote received the Trudeau Medal for carrying forward the faith, wisdom, and courage for the crusade against tuberculosis; the Bethune Cookman Award in recognition of outstanding service in medicine and civil enterprise; the Certificate of Merit from the 50-Year Club of American Medicine presented by American Medical Association. Dr. Leonard H.B. Foote was a great American, an outstanding medical doctor, and a great human being.

Past Annual Dr. L.H.B. Foote Minority Health Symposium and Memorial Health Lectures

1995 -     Dr. L.H.B. Foote Minority Health Symposium and Memorial Health Lecture
Keynote Speaker:        LaSalle Leffall, MD, Professor of Surgery
Howard University College of Medicine

1996 -     Dr. L.H.B. Foote Minority Health Symposium and Memorial Health Lecture
Keynote Speaker:        Dorothy Triplett, M. Ed, Associate Director
Center for Disease Control and Prevention

1997 -     Violence and AIDS:  Your Funeral or Our Problem – Working Together, We Can All Win
Keynote Speaker:        Clay E. Simpson, Jr., PhD, Deputy Assistant Secretary
Minority Health – Public Health Service
United States Department of Health and Human Services

1998 -     Religion: Old Remedy for New Ailments in the Black Community – AIDS, Violence, and Substance Abuse
Keynote Speaker:        Cain Hope Felder, Professor
Howard University School of Divinity

1999 -     Y2K: Unhealthy People 2000 to Healthy People 2010 – Florida’s Black Health Agenda for the Millennium
Keynote Speaker:        Gary C. Dennis, MD, FACS, President
National Medical Association

2000 -     African American Health and Healthcare 2000: Hope or New Holocaust?
Keynote Speaker:        Joseph L. Webster, Sr. MD, President
Institute for African American Health, Inc.

2001 -     21st Century Approach to Health in Black Community: New Medicines and a
New Mind-set
Keynote Speaker:        B. Lee Green, PhD
Department of Health Behaviors. School of Public Health
University Alabama at Birmingham

2002 -     Closing the Gap in Minority Health – HIV/AIDS, Diabetes, and Minority Participation in
Clinical Research
Keynote Speaker:        John O. Agwunobi, MD, MBA, Secretary
Florida Department of Health

2003 -     Improving Minority Health: A Matter of National Security
Keynote Speaker:        Randall Maxey, MD, PhD, MBA, DVM, President
National Medical Association

2004 -     Dr. L.H.B. Foote Minority Health Symposium and Memorial Health Lecture
Keynote Speaker:        James Gavin, MD, Researcher and President
Morehouse School of Medicine

2005 -     Obesity and Diabetes in Blacks and Native Americans:  Obstacles and Opportunities for
Success
Keynote Speaker:        L. DiAnne Bradford, PhD, Dip. Pharm. Med
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Morehouse School of Medicine

2006 -     Obesity: Preventable Link to Diabetes, Cancer and Learning Disorders in Black and Native
American Children
Keynote Speaker:        Lester Brown, President
L.L. Brown International, Inc.                               

Past Sponsors and Partners of the Symposium and Lecture

• AstraZeneca LP
• Aventis Pharmaceuticals
• Bethel A.M.E. Church
• Bureau of HIV/AIDS
• Big Bend Black Nurses Association
• Big Bend Area Health Education Center
• Central Florida Medical Society
• Central Florida Pharmacy Council
• Diabetes and You Closing the Gap Project
• Eli Lilly and Company
• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Institute for Public Health
• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University School of Nursing
• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
• Florida Department of Health
• Florida Medical Association
• Florida State Medical Association, Inc.
• Florida State University Department of Psychology
• Florida AIDS Education and Training Center
• Leon County Board of County Commissioners
• Leon County Health Department
• Imhotep Health & Video Complex
• Jansen Pharmaceuticals
• Merck & Co.
• National Medical Association, Inc.
• McNeil Pharmaceuticals
• Minority Physicians Research Alliance
• Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
• Professional Video Resources, Inc.
• Proctor and Gamble Pharmaceuticals
• TAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• The Links, Inc.
• Webster Surgical Center
• William Cobb Health Policy Institute
• William Foster Foundation
• William Gunn Society
• Wyeth Ayerst Pharmaceuticals
• Roche Pharmaceuticals
• Schering Sales Corporation
• Searle Pharmaceuticals
• Shisa, Inc.
• Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity