Dr. Babacar Cisse, assistant professor of neurological surgery at the Weill Cornell Medicine Brain and Spine Center, participated in a panel discussion at the Fourth Annual Junior 100 Career Day at Pace University on March 17. The event, part of the Junior 100/Pathways to Success youth development program, included a lively and dynamic discussion of employment, role models, work-life balance, training, career changes, and qualities employers look for when hiring workers. Dr. Cisse spoke to the young audience about the path he took from his childhood in Senegal to his life as a neurosurgeon in New York today.
Career Day included a keynote address by New York City’s First Deputy Police Commissioner, Benjamin Tucker, followed by the panel discussion. In addition to Dr. Cisse, panelists included Deputy Manhattan Borough President Matthew Washington, President and CEO of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce Jessica Walker, Legislative Counsel at the New York City Council Malcom Butehorn, and Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association founder Kenny Wynder.
Junior 100/Pathways to Success is a 16-week youth development program created by One Hundred Black Men Inc. for high school juniors and seniors. The program is hosted at Pace University and includes college readiness, life skills, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship training. Participants spend every other Saturday at Pace from January through May.
One Hundred Black Men was founded in 1963 as an organization of like-minded business, political, and community leaders dedicated to empowering African Americans and inspiring them to become agents of change in their communities. These visionaries were business and industry leaders such as Robert Mangum, Cyril Tyson, J. Bruce Llewellyn, Livingston Wingate, Andrew Hatcher, and David Dinkins. Today the group has 116 chapters and provides scholarships, educational support, economic empowerment, mentoring, and health and wellness initiatives, and serves as an overall voice of the African American community.
Bill Colona, Director of Government and Community Relations at Pace University and the host of Career Day, said to Dr. Cisse, “Your background, education, and career were the perfect complement to our five-person panel. I know everyone was so impressed with your resiliency in pursuing your education, when you arrived in the United States with $26 in your pocket.”
Dr. Cisse had sage advice for this group of future scholars, whose appreciation was evident by the way they rushed up to speak with him after the event. Find out more about Dr. Cisse’s life story by watching the video here.
