Background

Valiere Alcena was born on August 24, 1934, in the Republic of Haiti, to Lamartine and Florisanne (LaCoste) Alcena. Later, Valiere became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Education

From 1963 to 1967, Valiere Alcena attended Hunter College of the City University of New York. In 1970, he received a Bachelor of Arts from Queens College of the City University of New York, and a Doctor of Medicine from Yeshiva University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1973.

Career

Alcena began his medical career as a medical intern at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center. He also was an educator at Yeshiva University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and physician at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore. Valiere also worked as an assistant attending physician and faculty member at North Central Bronx Hospital and was an educator at Cornell University. He also was an assistant attending physician and faculty member at Harlem Hospital.

Later, Alcena became a physician at New York Hospital Medical Center, Westchester Division. He was a medical director at Ronald-Fraser Neighborhood Health Center. Valiere also taught at New York Medical College and was a teaching attending physician at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.

Dr. Alcena joined the medical staff of White Plains Hospital more than 40 years ago. At that time he also founded and served as the medical director of what has become the Neighborhood Health Fair, which provides valuable screenings and health information to hundreds of under-insured individuals in the White Plains community every spring.

Currently, Valiere is a practicing physician, medical scholar, medical educator, and author. He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx NY and an Adjunct Professor of Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla New York. He is an attending physician at Montefiore Hospital Center in the Bronx, New York. He is also a public speaker at schools, colleges, churches, and community centers.

Achievements

• Valiere Alcena was the first in the world to discover the C282Y gene in a black woman, in the year 2000, documenting that this gene, which is responsible for primary hemochromatosis, is also found in Blacks in very rare instances.
  
  Dr. Alcena has written a number of books, numerous scientific articles and has lectured both nationally and internationally. He is an award-winning television journalist and producer. He hosts two weekly well-known TV programs in the New York area. In addition, he is the chairman of the White Plains Cable Access Commission in White Plains, New York.
  
  He was previously honored by the Albert Einstein Chapter of the Student National Medical Association for his contributions to science and the profession of medicine. He also was inducted into the American College of Physicians as MASTER-MACP.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Most Common Diseases Seen In Black People

    (Blacks suffer from excessively from the following disease...)

    2012
  • Triumph and Tragedies of Haiti and Its People

    (This book discusses the history of Haiti and the Haitian ...)

    2010
  • The African-American Health Book: A Prescription for Improvement

    (Studies health problems that affect both the American com...)

    1994
  • Black People and Medical Diseases

    (This book attempts to bring to light some of the medical ...)

    2012
  • The Best of Women's Health

    (The Best of Women's Health brings to the forefront progre...)

    2008
  • Men's Health and Wellness for the New Millennium

    (Men's Health and Wellness for the New Millennium explains...)

    2007
  • Health Care Disparity in the United States of America

    (This book is written to bring to light the many wrongs th...)

    2011
  • African-American Men's Health

    (Health care disparity is widespread in the U.S. among all...)

    2018
  • Third World Health Care in a First World Country

    (Many aspects of the U.S. health care system are worst tha...)

    2011
  • The Status of Health of Blacks in the United States of America: A Prescription for Improvement 1992
  • African American Woman's Health Book: A guide to the Prevention and Cure of Illness 2001
  • Women's Health and Wellness for the Millennium 2005
  • The Tragic History of Haiti 2011
  • Health Status of African Americans 2014
  • Anthology of Medical Diseases 2013

Views

Quotations: "I started writing out of a desire to inform my patients, as well as students about basic principles of health care, which I came to realize, were not generally or easily accessible to them. I wanted to make the information as easy to understand as possible without sacrificing accuracy or being condescending to my readers."

"My writing about medicine and health care issues were likely inspired by what motivated me to become a physician in the first place: losing several members of my family at an early age due to lack of basic health care in my native country, Haiti. This led to an early awareness of the importance of good health care and access thereto, a desire to help and care for others, and a desire to teach and inspire young people to enter and succeed in the field of medicine, particularly disadvantaged youth who would not otherwise consider the practice of medicine as a profession that was open to them."

"My writing process is fairly simple. I write in the limited spare time that I have when I am not seeing patients or teaching. Since I am not yet computer literate, I hand-write my first drafts, then turn them over to someone else to input on a computer. Numerous revisions follow until I am fairly satisfied with the text."

Membership

On October 19, 2010, Dr. Alcena was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in London, England.

• founder and medical director

  City of White Plains Annual Health Fair for Cancer Screening

  1979 - 1996

• founder, chair, and president

  White Plains Community Health Fair

  1996

• founder and president of cancer prevention and support group

  White Plains Community Health Fair

  2006

• president

  Alcena Enterprise, Inc.

  1984 - 1996

• president and chief executive officer

  Alcena Medical Communications, Inc.

  1992

• president and chair

  Alcena Fashion Studio, Inc.

  2003

• president and board chair

  Alcena Design Studio

  2003 - present

• founder and executive director

  Alcena Africa Hunger Relief Fund

  1993 - present

• member of medical advisory board

  Greater New York Sickle Cell Foundation

• Westchester County Blue Ribbon Task Force for the Elimination of Health Disparities among African Americans

  2005

• member

  White Plains Cable Access Commission

  1994 - present

• member

  Westchester County African American Advisory Board

  1994 - 2006

• chair of general health/substance abuse committee

  Westchester County African American Advisory Board

  1995 - 1997

• member of board of directors

  Westchester Black United Fund

  1995 - 1997

Interests

• Gardening, music, cooking

• Sport & Clubs

  soccer

Connections

Alcena is divorced. He has four children - Reynolds, Juanita, Marcette and Valerie.

Father:

Lamartine Alcena

Mother:

Florisanne (LaCoste) Alcena

child:

Reynolds Alcena

child:

Juanita Alcena

child:

Marcette Alcena

child:

Valerie Alcena

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields In response to the escalating need for up-to-date information on writers, Contemporary Authors New Revision Series brings researchers the most recent data on the worlds most-popular authors.
  2010