Daily Inspiration: Meet Alexander Flowers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexander Flowers.

Hi Alexander, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I founded BrainSTEMology(TM) while I was in pharmacy school. I coined and defined it as “the study of brilliant rhymes academic in nature incorporating applied science, technology, engineering, and mathematical content (B.R.A.I.N.S.T.E.M). Literally, I started sketching ideas, themes, logos, and curriculums, while my anatomy/physiology professor played a 4minute music video of a few guys rapping about neuroscience concepts.

The purpose was to help us learn complex information and enhance our memorization of the brainstem’s different roles/functions.  That idea became a part of my blueprint along with real-world applied case studies with departments of all the allied health sciences deciphering, synthesizing, and communicating information in the form of a hip-hop cipher. At that exact moment, my entire life experiences in academia and music came full circle.

I knew I wanted to help more minorities gain an appreciation of academia & hip-hop culture and address racial disparities within STEM fields in the health and pharmaceutical sciences. I felt that because of my 20-year experience in the diverse university research labs, biopharma/clinical research organization, and local ciphers I could introduce my company to all stakeholders.

I could help engage, recruit, and educate the youth about STEM careers while giving them a unique outlet to create content with STEM professionals, artists, and their peers implementing several hip-hop elements.

I knew it was my reasonable service to illustrate to my colleagues that “Hip-Hop is Academic” and it fulfills my why hip hop?  With my wife’s support, in 2015, I applied for the National Society of Collegiate Scholars “Make your Dream a Reality Award” at Scholar CON.  Thankfully, we placed 2nd in their business pitch competition which validated my innovative concept and value-add to academia through hip-hop.

In 2020, I was highly motivated to develop a business plan and mentorship with Bob Shimmel through Launch Holly Springs.  Launch Holly Springs helped me to create a game plan, which resulted in several strategic partnerships with Adler Planetarium, Field Museum, NC State University Juntos Academy, top-tier music producers, visual artists, and several N.C hip-hop/spoken word artists.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course not. In 2019, I had to pivot literally two months before graduating with my doctorate.

While on P4 rotations in Internal Medicine and Ambulatory Care, I felt burn-out slowly creeping on me as I experienced previously during my doctoral training. That is the unbearable reality sometimes when you have been a high achiever for a long time without taking enough time for personal self-care. I didn’t lose my passion for STEM, but I lost so many family/friends during my doctoral training. I failed to properly talk about and handle grief. I did what I normally would do, cope with it alone and through prayer.

The one that affected me the most was during a postdoctoral PK/PD Industry Sponsored Fellowship phone interview at a very prestigious research university. Ever since high school, receiving the call from faculty from this university was like an improbable dream coming true for a kid from the southside of Chicago. I worked so hard during college, grad, and professional school for this industry-sponsored fellowship. Ironically, I had to hit the mute button several times during my interview.

I never told my interviewers; I wasn’t responding normally like myself during that call. Interestingly, a complete stranger contacted me on Facebook with some horrible news regarding one of my family members. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get into contact with their immediate family. So, I was asked if I could relay the untimely death of a close family member from possible Covid-pneumonia infection.

My physical and mental health was already starting to suffer, which negatively impacted my immediate family and our livelihood. I relocated my family to North Carolina with a very intentional professional goal, to earn my doctorate and obtain a postdoc industry research fellowship for trained pharmacists at this one highly sought-after university.

Ultimately, I had to shift my priorities, rebuild my self-esteem, and believe in my crazy idea of “BrainSTEMology(TM)” differently than I initially conceptualized, while staying the course with my own professional development in healthcare, clinical research, and the pharmaceutical industry.

The death of healthcare workers globally in 2019 fighting to end covid, members from black/brown communities especially on the southside of Chicago and Durham, NC, and the horrible death of George Floyd gave me many added reasons to make a difference in my community through the arts sciences and hip-hop therapy.

I became embodied by my faith to turn my liabilities into my assets. Thankfully, I still became an adjunct professor teaching pharmacology at the collegiate and graduate level, working in the biopharma industry in global medical affairs & scientific communications, and establishing BrainSTEMology(TM) to impact junior high, high school, and college students from urban and rural communities.

Ultimately, my obstacles and challenges became my springboard to becoming a better version of myself toward my family and community.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Sure. I am a clinical pharmacologist, global scientific communication specialist, hip-hop/academic professor, artist/musician, and social entrepreneur. A mouth full for sure.

In the biopharma industry, I provide project management on several key publication types, symposiums, congress deliverables within global medical affairs/medical scientific communication for rare neurological diseases.

In academia, as a clinical pharmacologist/academic professor, I utilize my clinical training and therapeutic knowledge from pharmacy school and research methodologies from grad school to teach my students about “drugs in action”- a general knowledge on clinical-basic pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

As a social entrepreneur/business owner/hip-hop professor for BrainSTEMology(TM), I partner with all stakeholders by hosting career chats with junior high, high school, and college students. I implement hip-hop culture into our curriculum while preparing students to handle the rigors of academia/medical research, STEM content, health disparities, and systemic racism.

I develop programming and events utilizing elements of hip-hop culture to engage, recruit, and educate the youth on various STEM career paths, job outlooks, and financial literacy not typically discussed during high school or college. As an artist/musician, I produce and compose music/visual content, while directing, producing, and supervising music production for documentaries, music videos, concerts, festivals, and special projects.

I am known for my 20-year research experience in academia, accolades, and artistry. I have received several research internships/fellowships while in college/grad school at Northwestern University Department of Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry. I am a Ronald E McNair Scholar alum at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacoeconomics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Genetics & Horticulture, and Roosevelt University Department of Biotechnology and Chemical Sciences and MARC Fellow awardee at the University of Iowa Department of Pharmacology.

I am a USA Today All-USA Academic Team nominee, Illinois Lincoln Student Laureate nominee, inducted into the 70th edition of Who’s Who in America Universities and Colleges, National Scholars Honor Society, and founding president of two chapters of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars at Saint Xavier University and Roosevelt University. After college, I earned a PREP Scholar fellowship at the University of Chicago Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology and ORISE Fellowship at the U.S Environmental Protection Agency.

During grad school I earned an NIH Minority Health & Health Disparities International Research Training Fellowship at the University of Cambridge-England, Provost Scholarship, Presidential Inaugural Scholar invitation to both President Obama’s inaugurations, and co-author a research publication with my Cambridge England University colleagues and worked on the largest study on genetics involvement in a sexual orientation conducted at Northshore University Research Institute.

During my doctorate program, I was included in the “Brilliant is the New Black” article featured in BET that showcased black men scientists and featured in Campbell University Magazine “The nerd movement, from Chicago to Buies Creek” about my program BrainSTEM. Currently, I serve as the Vice-President of Marketing for the RDU National Black MBA Association and Co-producer, Music Director/Supervisor for the “Still Searching” documentary.

So, I honestly have so much to be proud of both personally, professionally, and academically. However, the latest accomplishment I would mention is the “Still Searching” documentary I am co-producing with my family about Damon Lamar Reed, a Chicago hip-hop muralist, eye-catching paintings on missing women/girls from the Chicagoland area in the past two decades. Thankfully, our team was one of the two finalists selected for the Kartemquin/Hulu Accelerator Grant. I am proud that several news stations and reporters are covering our trailer and making the community aware of the disparity in news coverage of missing minorities.

Due to our documentary pitch, we are receiving financial and mentorship from Kartemquin, Hulu Films, and Still I Rise Films, with a “first look” of our documentary for Hulu’s platform. I am curating the artist and musicians to help me produce a score for the documentary. I believe we can use our artistic expression to cope with our pain, mistreatment, and neglect while showcasing and bringing a global awareness of the missing as human beings versus victims.

I believe what truly sets me apart from others working in STEM/STEAM is my genuine passion for STEM and grit to turn my lemons into lemonade. You may be smarter, have more accolades, and resources, but you will not out-work me. BrainSTEMology(TM) is my doctorate and my ministry. My goal is to continue to prove the ACT score that I received during high school wrong. A standardized score could never calculate one’s grit to succeed despite all of the barriers/challenges.

I faced so many obstacles in academia as a black male from the southside of Chicago not even covered in this article. Every statistic I have read said the probability of me going from Chicago to Cambridge-England was as close as you could get to zero. However, I am living proof that hip-hop could be a vital algorithm to find more hidden gems regardless of race, sex, or gender. Therefore, I am a brainstemologist. I am hip-hop, a doc, and a scholar.

I have embraced my genius and I’m pretty dope. Now, I am in a position to help other boys/girls cudgel one’s brain, collaborate with others, cipher the entire world and embrace their own geniuses.

What matters most to you?
Wow, this is a great question. I would say my faith and family. Some of my favorite scriptures are, “First seek ye the kingdom of heaven and everything else will be added unto you”. “A man who finds a wife finds a good thing and finds favor”. During a conversation in our college cafe, we declared and decreed what we wanted.

We wanted to be the Huxtables from The Cosby Show. We learned our names had the same meaning “Defender of Mankind”. So, we purposed ourselves to defend mankind through healthcare/medicine and law/politics. I can truly say we have accomplished most of our goals together from that day. We actually complement one another. We have been there for each other when things were good, bad, and ugly.

When I wanted to give up and was in despair, she was there. I worked hard so that our family would have a solid foundation and a rich established legacy for the next generation. I owe it to my parents and grandparents knowing their sacrifices, delayed dreams, and even failures. I know the education and my journey in academia is my ministry.

We endure so many trials and tribulations to get to this point. Many of my doubts in the form of question marks I had about myself, faith, and family have been bent into exclamation points, which I saw in a dream. The people we have been blessed to help, call friends, and family, bring me unspeakable joy and peace. I am confident where before I had a doubt, which is a matter of faith.

The personal challenge presented to me during college was. first allow my wife to pursue her law degree, while waiting until the right time to pursue my doctorate. In return, she has been there for our family and supported me while I was pursuing that degree and clinical. That is why BrainSTEMology means so much to me, it is the culmination of all specific courses that added value to my skill sets during college, grad school, and professional life which I want to share with our youth.

Because I was a kid who thought going to college was not possible unlike her. I once believed my athleticism and musicianship were my only tools to a better quality of life, opportunity, and career. Surprisingly, academics made me famous and all institutions I dreamed of playing sports in elementary and high school, I have performed scientific research either during college, grad school, or post-grad school on scholarships.

My wife believed in me and made sure I applied to my first internship at Northwestern University when I thought I was not good enough compared to my peers. I believe there are others out there like me and thanks to programs like TRio, Ronald E McNair Scholars Program, and PREP Scholars opened so many doors for me and others like me. That explains why?

Pricing:

• College/Scholarship Consulting – Starting at $25/hr

Contact Info:

• Email: brainstemology@gmail.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrainSTEMology/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/scholaralex

Image Credits
Mohammad Sadat, Warren Rudd, Qisoundra Flowers, J Dwayne, Garrett Jenny, and Midley Jason Prince