UHF is proud to present the 2022 Distinguished Community Service Award to Olajide Williams, MD, in recognition of his work improving health literacy through the transformative power of music, art, and science.
In October 2021, some three million children in 5,000 schools across New York were educated about the dangers of sugary snacks by a public health campaign they were actually likely to listen to: “Lil Sugar—Master of Disguise.” The educational rap video and associated material, created by the nonprofit group Hip Hop Public Health, features hip-hop legend Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC as the voice of Lil Sugar, who warns children that sugar can have more than 150 different names.
“Sneak up in your body just to get you hooked; I keep changing my name to get you to look,” raps Lil Sugar. “I give you diabetes from the treats and all the sweeties; I keep you being greedy, make you think you really need me.”
The Lil Sugar campaign was awarded the Health Grand Prix for Good in June at the Cannes Lions festival in France. It is just one of many efforts created by Hip Hop Public Health over the last 15 years to raise public awareness about health, deepen health literacy, and inspire health behavior change, thanks to founder and board chairman Olajide Williams, MD.
Hip-hop is far afield from Olajide‘s day job as Professor of Neurology and Chief of Staff of the Neurology Department of Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. But he has been committed to improving public health ever since he trained in medicine at the University of Lagos and recognized that people in the community were dying from preventable diseases.
Olajide completed his training in neurology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and went on to take charge of the stroke clinic at Harlem Hospital. There he saw unnecessary illness and death, just as he had seen in Lagos, much of it traceable to racism, poverty, and marginalization.
He was determined to help the people of Harlem overcome these social disparities, starting with stroke, a disease that disproportionately affects people of color. In 2005 he partnered with the National Stroke Association (NSA) to create the Stroke Center of Excellence at Harlem Hospital and searched for effective ways to educate the community about the signs of stroke and lifestyle interventions.
As a neurologist, he knew that the brain is more likely to retain knowledge presented by music and video than the written word. When the NSA asked him to take charge of an educational outreach effort it was creating called Hip Hop Health, he loved the idea but pointed out that the initiative lacked an important ingredient: hip-hop.
That’s when he had a lucky break—beatboxer Richie Rich walked into his waiting room. Rich connected Olajide with hip-hop legend Doug E. Fresh, the pioneer of beatboxing. The two men met at a juice bar in Harlem in 2006, and Fresh brought his son, who had a bad cough. Olajide diagnosed cough variant asthma, and a partnership was born.
The two men were determined to reach out to children, who could then educate their families, because “it is easier to build up a child than repair an adult.” They created multimedia health education resources, including comic books, cartoons, video games, and educational music videos such as “Stroke Ain’t No Joke,” and sent the materials to schools and hospitals throughout New York State.
Scientist that he is, Olajide rigorously tested the program with a randomized trial of 3,070 children. Stroke awareness among the children who went through the training increased from one percent to 57 percent. Six of these children called 911 for real-life stroke symptoms, in one case overruling a parent’s wait-and-see approach, and saved family members’ lives.
Hip Hop Public Health has expanded well beyond stroke education. The organization partnered with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Partnership for a Healthy America to produce programming and an album of songs promoting healthy eating and exercise. The campaign has been rolled out nationwide with millions of streams and views.
Hip Hop Public Health has created programs that address health literacy and health behaviors around colon cancer screening, teeth brushing, and balanced nutrition. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic it released educational videos, in English and in Spanish, encouraging young people to wash their hands for twenty seconds or more, followed by mask-wearing resources. In February 2021, it dropped an entire video anthology educating children and families about the COVID-19 vaccine to build confidence and vaccine uptake, and kept creating new resources through 2022 as the pandemic continued to evolve.
Hip Hop Public Health’s resources are now used by hundreds of cities around the world, and Olajide believes the opportunities are endless. “We’re teaching kids how to take care of themselves and their communities. By reaching them at a young age, they will have these tools for the rest of their lives.”
For improving health literacy through the transformative power of music, art, and science, United Hospital Fund is honored to present Olajide Williams, MD, with its 2022 Distinguished Community Service Award.
