Author holds book signing at The Penguin

By Gail M. Brown

Editor

Michelle Gourdine, M.D. will be the first to tell you that she is no stranger to Jackson. “I grew up here, right down from the campus of Jackson State University,” she told well-wishers as they attended her June 28 book signing at The Penguin restaurant.

Sponsored by United Healthcare, the book signing attracted interested individuals from around the metro area and beyond, including Vicksburg, Miss.

Titled “Reclaiming our Health: A Guide to African American Wellness,” the book is published by Yale University Press Health and Wellness. Through her book, Gourdine said her aim is to promote “healing bodies and restoring health by renewing minds.”

“I wrote this book to empower our community to solve our own health problems and save our own lives,” she explained in her marketing materials.

In the book, she educates the readers of the primary health concerns facing African Americans, who according to the Federal Office of Minority Health, are at the greatest risk of illness due to poor health. She uses her career as a physician and her life experiences as an African American to provide important “insights into the ways African-American culture shapes health choices; how beliefs, tradition and values can influence eating choices, exercise habits, and even the decision to seek medical attention.”

United Healthcare was proud to sponsor the event. “UnitedHealthcare Community Plan chose to sponsor Dr. Gourdine’s book signing because she is a Mississippi native who shares UHC’s vision in helping people live healthier lives,” said Tangela Parker, manager of business and community development for UHC Community Plan. “She is a supporter and advocate of UHC’s Farm to Fork initiative and the content of her book runs succinctly with UHC’s mission.”