Fireside Chat Honoring Congressman Stokes

The door opens and you grab the file that you need.

The next place you will need to go is the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The NIMHD office that you need to visit is located in a building off the main NIH campus. You hop on an NIH shuttle bus for a 15-minute ride through the neighborhoods to the office.

For your second assignment, your supervisor asked you to gather some information about the late Congressman Louis Stokes. At the NIMHD office, you meet the Chief of Staff and they share some information on Mr. Stokes.

You learn that Mr. Stokes represented Ohio in Congress for more than 30 years. Mr. Stokes supported increases in funding for biomedical research, and he was instrumental in creating NIH’s Office of Minority Programs, which eventually became NIMHD. Mr. Stokes passed away in 2015 at the age of 90, but his influence on NIH is still felt today.

In 2017, Dr. Francis Collins, the previous director of NIH, sat down with Mr. Stokes’ family to talk about the congressman’s life, dedication to his family and passion for his career.

Watch a clip of this discussion by fast forwarding the video below to start watching at the 36:32 time stamp and watch until 39:30.