Detroit Men's Health Exchange
Ready to ACTIVATE Men's Health?
Join the NAACP Center for Health Equity and the NAACP Detroit Branch for the Detroit Men's Health Exchange, hosted in partnership with Novartis and local stakeholders. Designed specifically for Black men and the broader Detroit community, this interactive experience brings together health education and screenings, self-care stations, and meaningful dialogue to improve health and well-being. The program features health experts, community leaders, advocates, and celebrity champions to promote prevention, early detection, and access to care, with a focus on prostate health and overall men's health.
Join the Conversation
Wellness stations and hors d'oeuvres start at 6:00 PM ET; Program begins at 7:00 PM ET
Black men continue to face barriers to preventive care and early detection, making community-based education, access to screening, and trusted health resources critical to improving health outcomes.
The Detroit Men's Health Exchange will explore the importance of prevention in wellness, with a focus on prostate health. The program will address common myths and misconceptions about prostate cancer screening and highlight the simplicity of the PSA blood test. Through health screenings, care navigation, expert discussion, and community engagement, participants will have opportunities to connect with resources and take proactive steps toward their health.
Come out, get screened, and enjoy massages, facials, beard grooming, juicing, movement station, and conversations with celebrity guests!
MEET OUR EXPERTS
Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony
Member, NAACP National Board of Directors
Vice Chair, NAACP Religious Affairs Committee
President, NAACP Detroit Branch
Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. He was educated in the Detroit PublicSchool system. He graduated from Wayne State University with a B.A. in Political Science and Marygrove College with an M.A. in Pastoral Ministry. He attended the University of Detroit for advanced study inBlack Theology. Rev. Anthony is a Certified Social Worker with the State of Michigan. On May 12, 2007, Rev. Anthony was the keynote speaker for the Graduation Class of Marygrove College at which time the Board of Trustees conferred upon Rev. Anthony the degree of Honorary Doctor of Arts. In 2022, Wayne State University conferred upon Rev. Anthony the degree of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa.
He became the Pastor of Fellowship Chapel in December 1986 following the passing of Reverend James E. Wadsworth, Jr. Through the grace of God and the labor of his ministry, the church has experienced the greatest growth in its 55-year history. Through its James E. Wadsworth, Jr. Community Center, Fellowship Chapel has a full-time outreach ministry with programs ranging from health and wellness, youth mentoring and development and job training.
Currently, Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony is a member of the NAACP National Board of Directors. In addition, he is serving his 15th term as President of the Detroit Branch NAACP, a position he has held for 28 years. The Detroit Branch NAACP is the largest branch in the country. It hosts the largest sit-down dinner in the nation, bringing at least 10,000 persons to gather every year to celebrate and commemorate the struggle for social justice, freedom, and equality. He is the founder of the Freedom Institute for Economic, Social Justice, and People Empowerment, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, which also sponsors the annual Freedom Weekend in the city of Detroit.
Marlon Fuller, PharmD
Associate Director, Medical Science Liaison, Novartis
Marlon Fuller, Pharm.D., is a respected pharmaceutical leader whose career reflects a deep commitment to science, service, health equity, and community impact. As an Associate Director, Radioligand Medical Science Liaison with Novartis Medical Affairs, Dr. Fuller supports regional medical education and scientific engagement in radioligand therapy, with a focus on advanced prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors. His work places him in one of oncology's most innovative and rapidly evolving areas, where scientific advancement has the potential to change lives for patients and families.
Throughout his career, Dr. Fuller has held roles in retail and hospital pharmacy along with increasing responsibility across leading pharmaceutical organizations, with experience spanning medical affairs, commercial strategy, and market access. He has contributed to important product launches in serious disease areas including Alzheimer's disease and cancer, conditions that have personally touched his family and continue to disproportionately affect underserved communities. His professional journey is grounded in a belief that medical innovation must be matched by access, education, and trust. In every role, he has worked to help bridge the gap between scientific progress and meaningful patient impact through physician education, strategic collaboration, and peer-to-peer medical dialogue.
Dr. Fuller is also deeply committed to developing future leaders in healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry. He has led the development of Medical Science Liaison teams and created educational programs that strengthen scientific excellence in the field. As a mentor, he has supported fellows, early-career professionals, and students, including those from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, as they navigate opportunities in pharmaceutical medicine. His dedication to service has been recognized through a prestigious national pharmaceutical industry award for exemplary community philanthropy.
Dr. Fuller brings to the panel the lived commitment of someone who understands that medical progress must reach every community.
Fil Mendez Guipoco
Vice President, Community Outreach and Engagement, ZERO Prostate Cancer
Fil Mendez Guipoco is an award-winning bicultural nonprofit leader based in Chicago, with more than 30 years of experience in public health, chronic disease prevention, and community-based initiatives. He currently serves as Vice President of Community Outreach and Engagement for ZERO Prostate Cancer, the nation's leading prostate cancer organization providing cancer resources, programs and services to those at risk, diagnoses and their families. In this role, he leads Blitz the Barriers, a landmark initiative focused on eliminating prostate cancer disparities by increasing screening in pilot communities by 20%, with the goal of saving more than 100,000 lives.
Fil is a seasoned public health leader with more than two decades of experience advancing cardiovascular health, diabetes management, and health equity through the American Heart Association. His expertise includes program development, strategic partnerships, team leadership, and large-scale public health implementation. He has led impactful initiatives at the local, state, and national levels, including supporting the implementation of Chicago's and Illinois' Clean Indoor Air Act and developing the framwork for Automated External Defibrillator deployment at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, a model later adopted by airports nationwide. Most recently, Fil led national work in partnership with the Office of Minority Health and the Health Resources and Services Administration's National Hypertension Control Initiative, collaborating with more than 350 federally qualified health centers across 47 states to improve hypertesion control rates and reduce health disparities.
Fil serves on the board of the DuPage Mexican Cultural Center, as well as the West Chicago Parks Foundation. He is recognized for his commitment to health equity and for building inclusive partnerships thatdrive lasting impact across the nonprofit and public health sectors.
Isaac J. Powell, MD
Professor of Urologic Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Institute
Isaac J. Powell, M.D., has been a strong leader in the struggle to educate African American men regarding prostate cancer. He received his medical education at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, IN, and has been a faculty member in the Department of Urology at Wayne State University in Detroit since 1986. He is currently a professor of urologic oncology at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. His commitment to cancer research is centered on the many ways prostate cancer impacts African Americans in comparison to other ethnic groups. His research is directed toward ethnic differences in the biology/genetics of prostate cancer. He was principal investigator of a nation-wide consortium of recruitment centers (medical centers) to recruit families to examine hereditary prostate cancer among African Americans.
He reported their initial results of 4 or 5 regions in the genome where genes responsible for hereditary prostate cancer may be found. As a part of an International Prostate Cancer Consortium Genetics (ICPCG) group, they have compared their results with other centers around the world. As leader of a collaboration at his institution, he is leading a team studying environmental factors that impact on genes such as diet and inflammation in correlation to clinical outcomes. He was funded to examine metabolic syndrome and prostate cancer, and they found that obesity and high fat diet is associated with aggressive prostate cancer. He, as the lead author, published that prostate cancer grows faster among African American men compared to European American men. He and his team recently completed a study using a special technique and found prostate cancer genes associated with advanced disease are more expressed among African American compared to European American men and account for higher death rate. In collaboration with Harvard, Cornell, Johns Hopkins and other Universities, they have studied and now have published DNA gene sequencing of prostate cancer to identify lethal cancers.
Currently he leads a team of investigators at his institution who have identified specific genes of the immune system responsible for prostate cancer progression, metastasis, and death. As a result, his team is developing a drug to inhibit these genes. The pre-clinical studies have identified 2 drugs used in sequence that inhibit the genes that initiate several genetic/biological pathways contributing to prostate cancer progression, recurrence and mortality. They are seeking funds to confirm the results.