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04/18/2018 08:30 AMFor Charles Collier of North Haven, his life’s goal hasn’t been personal success, but enabling others to attain their dreams.
“I grew up in Savannah, Georgia, where my grandfather was a physician, my father a dentist, and an uncle a doctor as well,” Charles says.
Those medical role models inspired Charles’s career, though he chose s somewhat different path.
“I chose to be a ‘kingmaker’ instead.” he says.
Charles earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Mercer University in Georgia.
“I chose sociology because I have always been interested in human behaviors and systems,” he says.
That path led him to a master’s degree in counseling education from Emporia State University in Kansas. In 2012, Charles joined Quinnipiac University’s Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine.
“Netter became the newest school of medicine in Connecticut in 2012,” Charles says. “The opportunity to build from the ground up was very enticing.”
As the assistant dean for health care pathways at Quinnipiac, Charles’s goal is to get minority students on the medical/health care track.
“Over the span of my career I have engaged with well over 5,000 students, and have had the pleasure of seeing many of my students graduate and successfully enter medical and other health profession programs across the country,” he says.
At Quinnipiac, Charles helps develop enrichment and academic programs for students through the university’s Health Careers Pathways (HCP) program. Charles’s programs begin as early as elementary school. HCP targets magnet schools with a diverse student body: the Celentano Biotech, Health, and Medical Magnet School in New Haven; the Edgewood Magnet School in New Haven; and others.
HCP’s enrichment programs have included a reading development program for 4th- and 5th-graders at Edgewood and Celentano schools; science exploration at Celentano; and Netter High School clubs at high schools in New Haven and Hamden. There’s also the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) Immersion program at Quinnipiac, designed to increase the number of underrepresented students scoring competitively on the MCAT, along with a pre-matriculation program designed to help acclimate students who’ve been accepted to medical school.
Throughout everything that Charles does, he realizes that the key to getting minority students into the fields of medicine and health care is proper schooling.
“My challenge is maintaining long-term relationships with area school systems, which is critical to building a pipeline,” he says.
With all that he’s done, it’s no surprise that Charles was recently elected to a two-year term as president of the National Association of Medical Minority Educators (NAMME). The organization’s goal is to broaden racial and ethnic diversity in the health professions—it’s a natural home for someone with Charles’ vision. While his position at NAMME is new, he’s been a member since 1993, and has filled other leadership roles at the organization.
“I believe NAMME is an extension of what I do in my work, but at a national level,” he says.
In his spare time, Charles enjoys traveling to tropical places: Brazil, Aruba, and the Caribbean Islands. He also loves all kinds of music, from soul and R&B to opera and gospel.
Even in his spare time, Charles’s energy is drawn back to helping others. He’s a board member for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America of Southern Connecticut, whose mission is to educate and support individuals affected with sickle cell disease. He’s also the founder of SOUL, which he describes as “an outreach organization for black and Hispanic males in Atlanta committed to literacy and college preparation.”
By helping so many people succeed in so many different ways, it’s clear that he’s succeeded in his own life’s work, as well.