Phillip G. Blanc

Phillip G. Blanc was born in Brooklyn, New York to Haitian immigrant parents. Following his early love of theater performance with roles in grade and middle school, Mr. Blanc proceeded to utilize his gift of public speaking through sermon delivery and improv sketches at New Jersey-area churches. He subsequently graduated from Rutgers University in 2003 with majors in Religion and Biological Sciences, as well as a minor in Africana Studies. He graduated with departmental honors in Religion. Mr. Blanc was supported with a partial merit scholarship, the James Dickson Carr Scholarship. During college, he served as the President of the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students and as a resident assistant. He played the electric bass guitar for the Rutgers University Liberated Gospel Choir, helping inspire school and church communities along southeastern USA. Throughout his experience as a medical student at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Mr. Blanc was an active leader, including holding the office of President of the Student Government Association (SGA) in his second year. Having pursued studies in public health at Harvard University last year, Mr. Blanc was selected as the student speaker at the Harvard School of Public Health's 85th Commencement. Founded on such principles as, "Love thy neighbour as thyself," his Christian faith most compels him to lend his compassion, skills, and talents to societal needs, which are as diverse in scope as the hurricane-devastated communities of New Orleans; from the broken morales of Boston's incarcerated youths, to the deficit of positive role models for disadvantaged pre-medical students; and to the resource-poor areas of rural Haiti, where he helped the public health branch of l'Hopital Albert Schweitzer develop strategies for improving community education programs. He is especially interested in minority health issues and disparities, and how these issues may be addressed through mainstream media. Towards this end, since 2007 Mr. Blanc has, through entertainment and news internships, learned the various aspects of promotional and studio production (i.e. logging, selecting, and capturing shots from digital media, contributing ideas to special project assignments, etc.), as well as broad, valuable insight as to how to cater health programming towards minority audiences. Through multiplatform media, whether through on-air hosting, improvisation, or acting, the now "Dr." Blanc aims to meld his experiences so that his unique delivery can be a breath of fresh air to viewing audiences at large.