Dr. Levi Watkins Jr. Lecture Series to feature TSU alumna and Board member, Dr. Edith Peterson Mitchell

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – The second annual Dr. Levi Watkins, Jr. Lecture Series will take place on Oct. 17 during Tennessee State University’s Homecoming week.

Dr. Edith Peterson Mitchell

This year’s featured speaker is Dr. Edith Peterson Mitchell, a TSU alumna and member of the university’s Board of Trustees. She is also a renowned cancer specialist, and retired Air Force brigadier general.

The lecture is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the Robert N. Murrell Forum in the university’s Floyd-Payne Campus Center.

The lecture series, a component of the Dr. Levi Watkins, Jr., Institute, was established to honor Watkins, a 1966 alumnus of TSU and the first African-American to be accepted into and graduate from the Vanderbilt School of Medicine. It features prominent speakers who address areas in health care and STEM to prepare students for the medical field.

In addition to the lecture series, the Institute also consists of a pre-med society and an endowed scholarship.

The late Watkins is known worldwide for being the first surgeon to successfully implant an automatic heart defibrillator in a human patient at John Hopkins Hospital.

Dr. Levi Watkins, Jr.

Dr. Watkins was also a pioneer in civil rights at Hopkins. He fought to diversify the medical staff and student ranks at the hospital. His legacy of recruiting and mentoring minority students helped to change the landscape of the medical profession.

Watkins retired from Hopkins in 2013, dedicating 43 years of service to helping others. He passed away on April 11, 2015.

To see all of TSU’s 2019 Homecoming activities, visit http://www.tnstate.edu/alumni/homecoming/.

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a premier, historically black university and land-grant institution offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs, and seven doctoral degrees. TSU is a comprehensive research intensive institution with a R-2 Carnegie designation, and has a graduate school on its downtown Avon Williams Campus, along with the Otis Floyd Nursery Research Center in McMinnville, Tennessee. With a commitment to excellence, Tennessee State University provides students with a quality education in a nurturing and innovative environment that prepares them as alumni to be global leaders in every facet of society. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.