TAMPA, Fla. — Dr. Jamal Brown, a pharmacy professor at Florida A&M University, is gaining viral fame after turning a lesson on diabetes into a song.
Brown lives in Tampa and works at the Tampa General Medical Group’s Carrollwood clinic. He’s treated diabetes patients there for the last eight years.
One of his patients, Angelina Amaro, saw seven doctors with no success before she met Brown.
“I was almost 320 pounds. My sugars were at 300, 400. Like I literally was giving up on life,” explained Amaro.
Amaro’s weight is down, and she is on the road to better health. Their connection is more like “family” than doctor and patient.
“That's the thing that I like the most about clinic is being able to connect with patients, talk to them, educate them, and show them how to actually live better,” said Brown.
Every life Brown touches pays homage to his mother, Jacqueline, who died in 2019 from type 2 diabetes.
“If I had an opportunity to counsel my mother now back then, what would I have said, what could I have imparted into her to prevent some of the things in her health from declining, so to me, is very personal,” explained Brown.
“A lot of patients that have diabetes take medicines, but nothing about their life is different," he said. "That's a waste of time to me. I even told my students if you are at a Walgreens or CVS, and someone is picking up insulin, and you never ask them about carbohydrates or sugars, you're not doing enough. And so, we have to do more and more as time goes on to reach our patients about changing their lives.”
It's the reason he put this lesson into music, and he's going viral for it — even making an appearance on Good Morning America.
“Whether it's for my students or for my patients, how can I get the information to them in a way that they can digest, understand, and take with them on the daily. That's the goal,” said Brown.
It's working for Amaro; she got good news at a recent appointment. She said Brown believed in her, never gave up on her, and saved her life.
“That's one thing that inspired me, you know from the video, was for my mother. Having something to dedicate towards her legacy, her life and in memory of her diabetes, work, advocacy, community engagement education, that's what's important,” said Brown.
Brown hopes to connect with churches and community groups to help educate the public on diabetes prevention treatment. He said if he has to write another song to get the word out, he and his keyboard are ready.
This article was written by Deiah Riley for WFTS.
