How a Few Legendary Rappers and 1 Cool Doctor are Creating Better Health Outcomes for Inner City Kids

Dr. Olajide Williams is a neurologist and a hip hop fan. Doug E. Fresh is an critically-acclaimed rapper and an avid health nut. When the two paired up to produce, “Stroke Ain’t No Joke,” a song aimed at educating young people about the warning signs of a stroke, in 2005, it was a match made in heaven. “I would be working all day here, then head to Doug’s studio and work all night until we came up with the song,” says Williams. “It’s still my favorite song to this day.”
The song’s release led to the founding of Hip Hop Public Health, a campaign that uses animation, songs and live performances to educate low-income children and families about healthy living. Since 2008, the group has performed in more than 150 schools, teaching an estimated 44,000 kids about strokes, obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.
Hip Hop Public Health recently launched an ambassador program, placing their materials online and encouraging educators and artists from around the world to use its model.

How Two Smart Docs Turn “Junk” Into Stroke Prevention

Two cutting-edge physicians are using computer models to help predict and reduce stroke risk for heart surgery patients. While it takes a medical degree to understand the data, it’s not hard to see how it works. In an effort to solve heart issues with less invasive procedures, many cardiologists use catheters to clear blocked arteries, which means less recovery time than major surgery. Even when patients require more aggressive heart surgery, like valve replacements, less invasive procedures are more prevalent options. But some of those surgeries can increase stroke risk, and Drs. Robert Schwartz and Shawn Shadden found a way to use computer engineering to find out why. Schwartz and Sadden found that inserting a catheter can, simply put, “knock junk loose” into the bloodstream, and they collaborated to track the “junk,” tiny but potentially harmful particulates, and figure out how and why they can reach the brain and cause a stroke. As their research continues, they’re not just reducing stroke risk, but improving the availability of the heart procedures that let people get back to their lives much more quickly.