The best-selling book "The Color of Water" offered reflections on what it was like to be an African American with a Jewish mother. Dr. Andrew D. McBride, whose brother James wrote the best-seller, will talk about his family and his mother in a lecture titled "Color of Water: Growing Up With a Jewish Mother."
The talk will be held at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 8, in the Beaumont Room, Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St. It is part of the Humanities in Medicine lecture series, and is free and open to the public.
Dr. McBride is a lecturer in public health at Yale and director of health and medical adviser for the Stamford City Health Department. In his talk, he will expand on various issues of race and culture raised in "The Color of Water" and will explore the social implications of the book, especially on the topic of the contemporary Jewish- African American relationship.
In his work for the City of Stamford, Dr. McBride heads a 75- person health department that includes divisions on everything from environmental health to housing code enforcement to public health nursing. He was instrumental in opening Stamford's first school- based health clinic and has actively facilitated the expansion of these clinics. He also established comprehensive education and prevention programs for AIDS, lead poisoning and Lyme disease. In addition, he created the first bone marrow donor registry in a public health department.
Dr. McBride, who holds a Master of Public Health degree from Yale, has also traveled to Rwanda with Americares to provide medical care to refugee children in the Goma, Zaire orphanage. He also traveled with Americares to the Sudan to assess medical facilities and address public health concerns. He is a member of the governing council of the American Public Health Association, among other professional affiliations.