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George Strait
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Quality Care in the Changing Medical Environment Healthcare Reform Disparities in HealthcareSpeaker Information
As Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs for the Food & Drug Administration, Strait is in the middle of current health issues which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services oversees across the country. Until his recent appointment in 2009 he was the public liaison for the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) at the National Institutes of Health. He was part of a major initiative focused on improving the health of underserved populations and eliminating health disparities.
A 22-year veteran reporter with ABC News, George Strait spent 16 of those years as the network's Chief Medical Correspondent. An award-winning journalist, he contributed to "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" and "Nightline" on issues such as healthcare reform, medical and ethical concerns regarding the new technologies, and AIDS. He was in the forefront of the major science, health and health policy stories for two decades, and was the first network correspondent to report on the HIV epidemic in Africa.
In January 2003, Strait became the new Assistant Vice Chancellor of Public Affairs at the University of California at Berkeley. As head of the Office of Public Affairs, part of the campus's University Relations division, Strait will oversee University Communications, Media Relations, Government Affairs, Cal Parents and Visitor Services. Prior to this position, he was Vice President of Content and Media for the Dr. Spock Company, an Internet resource for all aspects of parenting and childcare.
A native of Boston, Strait earned his bachelor's degree in biology at Boston University in 1967. While he was completing the coursework for a master's degree in biochemical genetics at Atlanta University, he began to explore the world of broadcasting, working first as an all-night disc jockey before migrating to television as a local reporter (and later anchor) for an Atlanta station.
Strait moved quickly into ever-larger television markets and increasingly complex beats. In 1977, following stints at a Philadelphia station and at CBS News, Strait joined ABC News as a political reporter, covering Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, and George H.W. Bush. In 1983, Roone Arledge, then president of ABC News, chose Strait to be the first medical and health reporter in network television news. He held the position of chief medical correspondent until he left ABC in 1999.
Throughout his career, Strait has tackled a number of challenging stories, presenting them to a wide audience. Though health was his primary beat, Strait says, the most memorable story he covered during his time at ABC was the peaceful transition to democracy in South Africa. As one of only a handful of African American on-air reporters, Strait fought hard to get his network to run stories that explored race. He co-anchored, wrote, and produced "Black in White America," a critically acclaimed documentary on race, and produced a documentary on the syphilis experiments on African American men that were conducted in Tuskegee, Alabama, between 1932 and 1972.
Strait also produced stories that spotlighted race and gender discrimination in modern-day healthcare. And as chair of ABC's minority advisory board, Strait helped the network appreciate the value of using more minority experts and fewer stereotypical pictures. Out of his concern for the paucity of blacks in the media and the way African Americans in general were portrayed, he helped found the National Association of Black Journalists in 1975. In 2004, Strait served as a member of the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce, a 15 member group tasked with uniting professionals of wide-ranging fields to increase diversity of the healthcare workforce and expand healthcare services to underserved populations.
Strait's achievements earned him some of the highest honors in journalism, including two Columbia University Alfred I. DuPont awards (one for reporting on sexism in the healthcare system, another for reports on minorities and HIV/AIDS). In 1986, he received an Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence from the Overseas Press Club of America for his stories on how the lack of healthcare in Russia threatened international security. He is also the recipient of the Gold Medal Award from the National Association of Black Journalists and a Blakesely Award from the American Heart Association. Following the inauguration of President Clinton in January 1993, Strait was named correspondent in charge of directing coverage of the healthcare reform debate and Hillary Clinton's Task Force on healthcare reform.
Strait has also remained active over the years as a media consultant, and has taught seminars and courses on science reporting and broadcast journalism at institutions such as Columbia, Rutgers and Wesleyan universities. At Wesleyan University, Strait and his wife spearheaded efforts to establish the Parents Council, the equivalent of UC Berkeley's Cal Parents. The council at Wesleyan provides an infrastructure that facilitates parents' involvement in various aspects of university affairs, including student recruiting and fundraising.
A graduate from Boston University with a B.A. degree in biology, Strait completed an M.S. program in Biochemical Genetics at Atlanta University in 1969. In 1996, he received Boston University's Alumni Award acknowledging his distinguished career in journalism.
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