By the time Antonio D. Martin left Kings County Hospital Center as executive director to lead the restructuring of the $6.7 billion New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., no one called the hospital by its old nickname, “Killer County.”
“Even police officers now say they want to be taken to Kings County when they are shot,” Martin once told The Network Journal.

Idjwi Island, the second-largest inland island in Africa and the 10th in the world, sits in the middle of Lake Kivu, a lush and hilly terrain located between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. The home of an estimated 250,000 Congolese refugees, it is where Jacques L. Sebisaho, M.D., spends much of his time and energy.

Jean-Bernard Poulard, M.D., likely will spend the rest of his medical career serving minority communities. “I always had it in my heart to work in Queens,” he says of New York City’s largest and most ethnically diverse borough.

Fifty years ago this year, as nation after nation in Africa proclaimed an end to colonial rule, a contingent of African-American scholars, writers and performing artists landed in Lagos, Nigeria, for a celebration and dialogue with their African counterparts on the gamut of art emanating from people of African descent

Known as Dre the Trainer, fitness expert Andre Farnell, owner of Better Body Expert L.L.C., recommends exercise equipment for his in-home clients. His suggestions for purchasing secondhand exercise equipment include doing your homework, especially if you’re looking at a specific piece, to become aware of any recalls.

It’s one thing to enjoy the music of Louis Armstrong on YouTube; experiencing the jazz icon through the museum that bears his name is special.

For five days last December, some 250 African mayors and mayors of African descent from the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America cloistered at the sumptuous Le Méridian President Hotel in Dakar, Senegal, over ways to collaboratively address common social and economic challenges in their jurisdictions. Billed as the World Summit of Mayors Leadership Conference, the Dec. 15–19 gathering was a fitting denouement to the International Year for People of African Descent, with critical relationships established between local African mayors and their Diaspora counterparts and among the mayors of the Diaspora themselves.

After a long and productive career advocating for the inclusion of minority vendors in big business, Joy P. Crichlow has relinquished her title as director of supplier diversity for Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc. and Orange and Rockland Utilities Inc., a title she held for some 25 years.

A decade ago, Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chairman Jim O’Neill coined the acronym BRICS to refer to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, at the time fast-emerging economies with firm prospects of attracting the most investment and becoming the most dominant and positive force in the world economy

Americans were primed for battle over who should be voted into the White House in November long before they rang in the New Year. This time around, I demand that aimless vitriol be replaced by a focus on trends that have booted us from top-dog status in key international benchmarks and on the investment imperatives those trends engender.

Here is my Top 12 list of
the dumbest entrepreneurial moves. All are easily avoidable with a little common sense and street smarts.

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.” Ecclesiastes 10:19. King Solomon never lied. What he said thousands of years ago still applies today. We know how to party and make liquor and wine companies successful through our drinking.

Starting to save in your 20s will give you a huge leg-up. That’s not to say it will always be easy. But by starting now, you definitely have a chance to buy a house or another big-ticket item! Whether you’re in your 20s or well beyond, there’s no magic bullet when it comes to saving. It’s about setting realistic goals, prioritizing how you’ll manage your money — and sticking with it. Here are some ideas to get you going.

Sometimes, it’s important to stick to your convictions despite the emotional urge or outside pressures to change your mind. But other times, you need to be flexible enough to change your mind when presented with a new set of facts. Never has that been more apparent than in business headlines in 2011

How Donna Walker-Kuhne, founder and head of a Brooklyn, N.Y., marketing firm, ended up in Russia teaching theater audience development is as much a lesson in the value of good client relationships as it is in the payoff from staying true to your passion.

After setting on a dreadful 2011, the sun came up in January with signs of better days, at least outside debt-burdened Europe. The United States is finally adding jobs and the housing market is improving but the fiscal deficit is worse off. Signs of moderate growth mean the U.S. Federal Reserve will be less likely to print more money, which could spur global growth.

The adage “A day late and a dollar short” may soon ring true for millions of New York metro-area small businesses and their employees if local legislators continue to drag their feet on implementing a key component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

With the Jan. 1, 2013, “readiness review” deadline approaching for state-based health insurance exchanges mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, local officials face a quagmire of legal and federal red tape to bring the exchanges to life.

The Obama administration will award up to $1 billion to innovative projects that test creative ways to deliver high-quality medical care and save money. Launched on Nov. 14, by the Department of Health and Human Services and funded by the Affordable Care Act, the Health Care Innovation Challenge

Philip D. Cooke was appointed chief of staff at Kings County Hospital Center in New York City. Before this, he served as associate executive director of external affairs for 11 years at Queens Hospital Center. In this role, he developed, designed and implemented local and corporate marketing campaigns and initiatives.

The medical field is keeping up with the mobile Joneses. According to Bulletin Healthcare, a provider of news and information on the latest developments in medicine, the consumption of medical news and information via smartphones climbed by 45 percent between June 2010 and February 2011.

From an early age, I knew that while I was Black British of West Indian parentage and African heritage, at the core of my being I was an African. “No matter what anyone tells you about being British, Afro-Caribbean or West Indian, you are Black therefore African. Be proud of it and don’t let anyone tell you any different,” my parents told my two sisters and me. These words stuck with me, soaking into every inch of my being.

Spending More, Bidding Less
A survey of 740 active small-business contractors, conducted by American Express OPEN, shows that these contractors invested  $103,827 in time and money to seek contracting opportunities over the past year, a 21 percent increase from the $86,000 they spent the previous year.

In its report “Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010,” the U.S. Census Bureau says that in 2010, median household income declined, the poverty rate increased and the percentage without health insurance coverage was not statistically different from the previous year