Three Speakers to Address Graduates at the 2019 Recognition Ceremony

The Brown School 2019 Recognition Ceremony will feature speeches by national radio personality and civil rights activist Joe Madison and Missouri Representative and Brown School alumna Cora Faith Walker, MPH ’10.

For the second year, the Brown School ceremony will also include a student speaker, MPH candidate Aishwarya Nagar, who was selected after submission of a topic essay and an interview with a School community committee. 

“We are so thrilled that we have such a broad range of speakers this year who will lend their personal insights, equity perspectives, and wisdom to our graduating cohort,” said Mary McKay, Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School. 

The marshals, who carry the banners of their respective programs during the Brown School Recognition processional and recessional, were also selected according to their commitment to scholarship and the Brown School community. Marshals for 2019 will be:

Faculty Marshal: Douglas Luke

MSW Marshal: Luther Tyus

MPH Marshal: Ruth Katumba

MSW/MPH Marshal: Julia Hughes

MSP Marshal: Shiqiu Li 

The Brown School Recognition Ceremony will be held Thursday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m. at the Field House within the Athletic Complex of Washington University in St. Louis. It precedes the university’s 158th Commencement ceremony, which will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 17, in Brookings Quadrangle on the Danforth Campus. The university commencement address will be delivered by Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies. 

About the Speakers

Joe Madison, Radio Personality and Civil Rights Activist

Joe Madison has devoted his career to raising awareness about issues around the world, encouraging dialogue among people of different backgrounds and raising money to support multicultural education and institutions. Known as “The Black Eagle,” Joe can be heard weekday mornings on SiriusXM’s Urban View.

A graduate of Washington University, Madison was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he rose to become a member of the national board. His radio career began in 1980 in Detroit, and he eventually moved to Washington, D.C. and syndication on the Radio One Talk Network and its XM satellite channel.

Madison uses his show as a platform for inspiring action on critical issues affecting the African American community. A Fellow of the William Greenleaf Eliot Society, Madison has supported scholarships, athletics, and the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement at Washington University. 

Cora Faith Walker, Missouri House of Representatives

Rep. Cora Faith Walker, Democrat, was elected in 2016 to represent parts of North St. Louis County.  She is an attorney with a health law certification and soon gained a reputation in the legislature as an expert in health law and public policy. She is the ranking minority member of the House Health and Mental Health Policy Committee and serves on several other health-related committees. 

In addition to her work as a legislator, Walker has served on multiple nonprofit boards and on the Community Advisory Board for the St. Louis Regional Health Commission. She has received a number of accolades, including the Emily’s List Award, the “Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award,” and the “Rising Star Award” from NARAL Prochoice.

A graduate of both Washington University and the inaugural MPH class at the Brown School, she received her law degree and Health Law Certificate from the Saint Louis University School of Law. 

Aishwarya Nagar, MPH Candidate ’19

Nagar is passionate about the intersections of gender equity, humanitarian health, and global public health. For her global health practicum, she worked on formative maternal nutrition and air quality research in Cap-Haitien, Haiti.

Since arriving at the Brown School, Nagar has worked with the E3 Nutrition Lab and Global Health Center and recruited students as a Student Ambassador for the Office of Admissions. She has served in leadership roles for Global Heath at Brown, Student Coordinating Council, and Cells to Society Journal Club. She is the outgoing president of the campus-wide Global Health Student Advisory Committee, which organized the 4th Annual Global Health Week. She is also part of the newly launched Midwest chapter of Women in Global Health.

Originally from New Delhi, India, Nagar was a Presidential Fellow at Wake Forest University where she completed her BS degree. After graduating from the Brown School, she hopes to work on initiatives that address pressing global health issues and improve the wellbeing of vulnerable communities globally.