Moyé, Lemuel A.

PERSONAL:

Ethnicity: African American. Education: Johns Hopkins University, B.A., 1974; Indiana University School of Medicine, M.D., 1978; Purdue University, M.S., 1980; University of Texas-Houston School of Public Health, Ph.D., 1987.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1200 Herman Pressler St., RAS E815, Houston, TX 77030. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Regenstrief Institute for Health Care, Indianapolis, IN, clinical biostatistician, 1979-84; Methodist Hospital Graduate Medical Center, Indianapolis, physician, 1979-82; Methodist Health Care Center, Indianapolis, acting medical director and physician, 1982-84; MediClinic Physicians' Association, Houston, TX, physician, 1984—, owner, 1986-87; University of Texas—Houston Health Science Center, School of Public Health, research assistant professor, 1987-89, assistant professor of biometry, 1989-95, professor of biostatistics, 1995—. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, consulting clinical biostatistician, 1985—.

MEMBER:

American Statistical Association, Biometrics.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Rudin Scholar, Cornell University, Medical College, 1974; Outstanding scholarly contribution award, Systems Research Foundation, Baden-Baden, Germany, 1988; Outstanding new faculty achievement award, University of Texas—Houston Health Science Center, 1992, 1993; Peer recognition for outstanding scholarship, University of Texas—Houston Health Science Center, 1999-2000.

WRITINGS:

Difference Equations with Public Health Applications, Marcel Dekker (New York, NY), 2000.

Statistical Reasoning in Medicine: The Intuitive P-value Primer, Springer (New York, NY), 2000, 2nd edition, 2006.

Multiple Analyses in Clinical Trials: Fundamentals for Investigators, Springer (New York, NY), 2003.

Mathematical Statistics with Applications, Chapman & Hall/CRC Press (Boca Raton, FL), 2005.

Face to Face with Katrina Survivors: A First Responder's Tribute, Open Hand Publishing (Greensboro, NC), 2006.

Statistical Monitoring of Clinical Trials: Fundamentals for Investigators, Springer (New York, NY), 2006.

Finding Your Way in Science: How You Can Combine Character, Compassion, and Productivity in Your Research Career, Trafford Publishing, 2006.

Elementary Bayesian Biostatistics, Chapman & Hall (Boca Raton, FL), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

A physician and biostatistician at the University of Texas, Lemuel A. Moyé volunteered to help treat evacuees from Hurricane Katrina who had been sent to Houston after the devastating storm flooded much of New Orleans, killing hundreds and leaving many of the city's poorest residents without food, water, or other supplies. His account of that experience, Face to Face with Katrina Survivors: A First Responder's Tribute, presents a sharply different picture from that created by national media. While network news reports focused on violence and mayhem among Katrina victims, depicting them as helpless, selfish, and even predatory, Moyé discovered evacuees to be strong, compassionate, and gracious. His book, he said in promotional materials from Open Hand Publishing that were quoted on his home page, is ‘my tribute to them."

As Moyé explains, conditions in New Orleans after the storm were extraordinarily dire. Residents endured severe injuries, skin infections, lung inflammations, dehydration, and complications that ensued when those with chronic diseases such as diabetes were left without needed medications. Yet the evacuees brought to Houston were remarkably resilient—a fact that Moyé attributes to their culture. ‘While the New Orleans evacuees brought their visible troubles and anguish to Houston,’ he notes, ‘they also carried a strong, and sadly unacknowledged strength. More powerful than money, more reliable than governmental promises, a palpable, almost physical community tie bound the survivors together…. The omnipresence of the Katrina ordeal only tightened its hold.’ This bond, Moyé writes, ‘allowed the survivors when they arrived in Houston to see fellow evacuees as new friends in need and not aggressors. This is why they would silently point to others who they believed needed more help than their own desperate situation required. This is why … evacuees with empty bellies carried paper plates piled high with fresh cooked food to other survivors more hungry than they were."

Vanessa Bush, writing in Booklist, noted that Moyé describes the ‘heartwarming gratitude and determination’ he encountered among the evacuees and the ‘compassionate caregiving’ of clinic staff and volunteers. The book, Bush pointed out, ends with a critique of how the government handled the crisis and of the stark divide between rich and poor in the United States.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Moyé, Lemuel A., Face to Face with Katrina Survivors: A First Responder's Tribute, Open Hand Publishing (Greensboro, NC), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2006, Vanessa Bush, review of Face to Face with Katrina Survivors, p. 21.

ONLINE

Lemuel Moyé Home Page,http://www.lemuelmoye.com (October 8 2007), author's homepage.

University of Texas—Houston Web site,http://www.uthouston.edu/Media/newsreleases/ (October 8, 2007), ‘Moyé Writes ‘Face to Face’ Account of Hurricane Katrina Ordeals."