An African Refugee's Adopted American Experience and His Mission to Elevate Underrepresented Groups With Godfrey Coker, Social Entrepreneur & Clinical Scientist

For many refugees integrating into American society is a challenge. Simply exposing themselves to life in a new country is just one of the many challenges that refugees face. Language barriers, helping them succeed in school, finding work and housing and accessing basic services like transportation to name just a few. Many refugees come from underprivileged backgrounds and are oftentimes lacking the tools necessary for an equal playing field with their American counterparts.

Embracing code-switching, also known as “language accommodation” is one way Godfrey Coker, as a refugee from Sierra Leone, transitioned into American society. Depending on your audience, "code-switching" can be an effective communication strategy. But is it good? Join us as we tackle this subject and what it means to live as an underrepresented group member (AKA minority) in America. You’ll gain perspective from Godfrey’s personal experience and learn what he’s doing to provide improved access to resources and representation in both the technological field of gaming and in clinical research.

About Our Guest: Godfrey Coker is a clinical researcher and social entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in data analysis, with an emphasis on increasing minority participation in clinical trials. In previous jobs, he used corporate rules to give hands-on training for at least 500 illegal immigrants to better grasp case documentation and health records administration.

Godfrey has spearheaded numerous efforts as a refugee who came to the United States, including co-founding Hughes Who Technologies, Gye Nyame Biodiesel and developing Shikapa Mobile with his brother. Godfrey graduated from Purdue University with a dual Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology and an MBA, as well as two master's degrees (MPH and MS) from the University of Southern California.

Guest Website: https://www.hugheswhotechstudio.org/ Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godfrey-coker-mba-mph-ms-92936750/

 Time Stamps:

00:00 Introduction

2:47 What was it like growing up in a predominantly white community in the late eighties?

5:50 How is Hughes Who impacting African American communities?

9:38 What games have Hughes Who worked on?

10:48 How does code-switching affect people?

23:35 How do you use code-switching to your advantage?

25:16 As a clinical trial manager how are you enhancing minority recruitment in patient trials?

30:13 Is medication less effective for African American communities due to lack of patient trials?

37:24 What are the solutions to code-switching?

45:02 What is the Shikapa App?

47:33 What's Next for Godfrey?

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