Mitchell, Stacy Ann

PERSONAL:

Education: Howard University, B.A.; University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, M.D. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, tennis, running in marathons.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Inglewood, CA. Office—MedFocus Marketing Consultants, LLC, 23052 Alicia Pkwy., Ste. 143, Mission Viejo, CA 92692.

CAREER:

Physician in private practice. Hypertension Institute at Centinela Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, founding medical director; University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, clinical instructor; MedFocus Marketing Consultants, LLC, Mission Viejo, CA, cofounder and partner.

WRITINGS:

(With sister, Teri D. Mitchell) Livin' Large: African American Sisters Confront Obesity, Hilton Publishing (Roscoe, IL), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

Physician Stacy Ann Mitchell, along with her biological sister, Teri D. Mitchell, wrote the health-advice book Livin' Large: African American Sisters Confront Obesity. The book aims to empower African American women to take control of their health. The authors explain that black women in the United States suffer from disproportionate rates of obesity, hypertension, heart disease, and other conditions that are largely related to behavior choices. In chapters structured as friendly dialogues, Dr. Mitchell explains to her sister, who describes herself as recovering from obesity, that negative patterns that have become ingrained in many black families can contribute to disease and have caused black women undue suffering due to poor health. Challenging the stereotype of the heavy African American woman, the Mitchells emphasize the health risks of obesity and encourage their readers to take positive steps to lose weight and to develop proactive relationships with health-care providers who can provide necessary information about maintaining good health.

Writing in Library Journal, Nicole A. Cooke noted that the book covers information applicable to women of all ethnicities, but that its approach is uniquely appealing. The critic appreciated the fact that Dr. Mitchell's medical analysis is interspersed with the more personal details of Teri Mitchell's struggles with her weight. This material, in Cooke's view, brings humor and warmth to the subject and makes the book a two-way conversation rather than a lecture. Cecily D. Cooper, writing in the Black Issues Book Review, praised the book's informative message and positive stance, concluding that its argument shows that black women "no longer have to perish for lack of knowledge."

Dr. Mitchell, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, is an internist with particular focus on prevention of cardiovascular disease. She is a clinical instructor at her alma mater and is the medical director of the Hypertension Institute at Centinela Hospital in Los Angeles. She writes and lectures frequently about empowering African Americans to lead healthier lives and to be knowledgeable and assertive health-care consumers.

Dr. Mitchell is also a cofounder of MedFocus Marking Consultants, a firm that, according to material on its Web site, "specializes in offering the pharmaceutical industry innovative marketing strategies specifically targeted to their urban consumers, especially African-American consumers." These strategies incorporate new media, entertainment, and sports venues as means of disseminating health information and promotion. As a result, consumers receive information about pharmaceutical products that could benefit them and also receive information about health awareness and support.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, January 1, 2006, Cecily D. Cooper, review of Livin' Large: African American Sisters Confront Obesity, p. 63.

Ebony, November, 2004, review of Livin' Large, p. 29.

Library Journal, November 1, 2004, Nicole A. Cooke, review of Livin' Large, p. 116.

Time, October 4, 2004, "These Sisters Tell It Like It Is," p. 93.

ONLINE

Aetna Web site,http://www.aetna.com/ (May 4, 2008), author profile.

BBW Reviewers,http://www.bbwreviewers.com/ (May 4, 2008), H. Renay Anderson, review of Livin' Large.

Black Women's Health Web site,http://www.blackwomenshealth.com/ (May 4, 2008), author profile.

Journey to Wellness,http://www.journeytowellness.com/ (May 4, 2008), review of Livin' Large.

MedFocus Marketing Web site,http://www.medfocusmarketing.com/ (May 4, 2008), author profile.