Christian Strong has no trouble living up to his callings
Future doctor doing fine at Harvard
When Christian Strong was 15, his mother posted a note on the refrigerator professing that he would be a lawyer, doctor or judge, and that he would go Harvard University.
The note proved prophetic. Christian, now 22, is a third-year student at Harvard Medical School, the second youngest medical student in his class.
What made his mother post such a note? Mrs. Bobbie Strong, an evangelist, tells anyone who asks that a Scripture in Habakkuk 2:2 admonishes followers to, “Write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”
Christian Strong has been on the run academically most of his life. He started talking at 6 months old, has been reading since age 2 and attended Southwest College when he was 11, according to his mother.
When Christian was a student at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, he was allowed to skip the eleventh grade and go from the tenth to the twelfth. He graduated at 16 as the class valedictorian and entered Harvard at that same age.
“He always made good grades,” Mrs. Strong said. “He always wanted to be a doctor. He’s always been in the books.”
Christian has piled up the honors. On June 2, he was one of 14 second- and third-year medical students to receive a $5,000 Oliver Goldsmith Scholarship award from Kaiser Permanente. The award includes an opportunity to observe practicing physicians for four to six weeks at a Kaiser Permanente facility.
He has also received the 2011 Minority Scholar Award from the American Academy of Neurology, the 2011 Ghiso Fellowship from the Neil Ghiso Foundation for Compassionate Medical Care, the 2010 Tylenol Scholarship from the Tylenol Foundation, the 2010 Joseph Collins Scholarship from the Joseph Collins Foundation, the 2010 Alexandra J. Miliotis Fellowship in Pediatric Oncology from Harvard Medical School and the 2010 Dr. Stephen G. Jones and Wanda W. Jones Scholarship from Harvard University.
The aspiring neurosurgeon had a chance to meet with one of the doctors he most admires—noted neurosurgeon Ben Carson—before he made his decision to choose Harvard. Carson, who practices at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, Md., made medical history in 1987 when he separated twins who were joined at the back of the head. Before Carson’s heroic 22-hour surgery, which took a team of 70 to complete, such operations had always ended in the death of one twin or the other. Christian and other minority students had brunch at Carson’s home.
Christian says he’s enjoying his training so far, although he hasn’t gotten into his specialty field yet.
“It’s nice to finally apply what you’ve learned. Right now I’m doing rotations in internal medicine. It’s [internal medicine] not what I imagined doing with my life, but it’s nice to have that foundation.”
After internal medicine, Christian will do rotations in surgery, pediatrics, obstetric and gynecology, neurology, radiology and psychiatry. Though he has assisted physicians performing surgeries, he has not been allowed to perform anything other than dermatologic procedures himself. But he will move into performing actual surgeries in about six weeks.
In the meantime, Christian’s other academic attributes keep him busy. During summers he teaches calculus and economics classes to Harvard undergraduates. And he’s a singer who loves both Gospel and R&B, and recently has developed an interest in Opera. As a kid he sang in the Mustard Seeds of Faith at Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, where his family are members.
But Mrs. Strong believes Christian has one more calling.
“When I was carrying him as child I was told that he was anointed and that he would preach the word of God,” she says. “I believe he will eventually preach. He does it now in his own way. Several times when I hear him speak I hear the anointing.”
Then she said, “Say his name backward.”
Strong Christian.
Elgin Olu Stafford, 23, who was last seen leaving his residence in the 20000 block of Campaign Drive in Carson at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 20, remains missing, according to authorities. Stafford has no known medical or psychiatric issues, but had recently been exhibiting erratic behavior. He is African American, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 145 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He has a tattoo of a bonsai tree on his right shoulder, and a birthmark near his left thumb. He was wearing a dark jacket, multi-colored pants and a black shirt.
NEW YORK—Memorial services were still pending for John A. Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. and tireless advocate for justice, equality and opportunity. Payton died late Thursday at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore after a brief illness. He was 65.
Payton was the seventh leader of LDF, the nation’s first and preeminent civil rights law firm.
Claybourne Carson, professor of History, Stanford University and director of the school’s Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute is the 2012 Thurgood Marshall lecturer April 4 from 5:30-9 p.m. at UCLA. The free lecture will be held in Sunset Village-Covel Salons ABCD & Terrace. Selected in 1985 by the late Coretta Scott King to edit and publish the papers of her late husband, Carson has devoted most his professional life to the study of Martin Luther King Jr., and the movements King inspired.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The U.S. Postal Inspection Service today offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of whoever robbed a letter carrier in South Los Angeles.
The carrier was robbed in the 1600 block of 60th Place about 9:45 a.m. on Aug. 20, Stacia Crane of the Postal Inspection Service said.
The suspect was described as a tall, thin Black man believed to be in his mid 40s. He was as tall as 6 feet 5 inches and clean-shaven with a nearly shaved head, according to Crane, who said he should be considered dangerous.
They say the economy’s getting better.
