The Legacies We Carry

Pierre Vigilance, MD, MPH, is Vice President and Interim Chief Diversity, Health Equity and Inclusion Officer.

Reflecting on the last few weeks led me to consider the mentors in my life, the wise and trusted counselors and teachers I have been blessed to have. The one who stands out for me is Dr. Levi Watkins Jr., the cardiac surgeon and civil rights activist who taught me as a medical student at Johns Hopkins University. In 1980, shortly after completing his surgical training, he and Vivien Thomas (the laboratory technician famous for creating the Blalock-Thomas-Taussig shunt to correct a pediatric cardiac malformation called tetralogy of Fallot) successfully inserted the first implantable cardiac defibrillator. In doing so, they changed the lives of countless patients worldwide.

As a surgeon, he educated medical students and residents. As a champion for social justice, he instilled pride and a powerful sense of service, resilience and personal excellence in everyone with whom he interacted. One of his greatest gifts to Hopkins Medicine was the creation of community and a safe space for us to talk about our experiences. The events he hosted always involved art, whether it was the poetry of Maya Angelou or the sounds of Unified Voices conducted by another mentor of mine, Dr. Gregory Branch. Almost 10 years after Dr. Watkin’s passing, I still hear his voice encouraging me to treat people well, listen intently, lead without fear and strive to improve the lives of others. His is one of many legacies I carry with me every day. He was an innovator, disparity solution creator, dedicated community servant and member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., which is why an image of a print I have by Charles Bibbs called “The Brotherhood” is so appropriate. It was created to commemorate our fraternity’s 100th anniversary in 2006 and depicts our seven founders along with other fraternal artifacts.