(North Canton, OH – Jan. 2, 2020) –  The community is invited to Stark State College’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, Fulfilling the Dream in 2020, set for 11:30 a.m. Jan. 17 in M101.

Obie Shelton, public information officer for Cleveland Municipal Clerk of Courts and former reporter for WKYC-TV3, will open the event with a violin performance, followed by the keynote speaker Dr. Willis Lonzer III. A reception will follow.

Dr. Lonzer, regional medical director for Horizon Therapeutics, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Delaware State University where he received several academic awards, and a doctor of philosophy degree in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry from The University of Akron where he held a prestigious Patricia Roberts Harris pre-doctoral fellowship from the US Department of Education. He also held a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship in physiology and biophysics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

In addition to his current position as regional medical director at Horizon Therapeutics, he has worked at Takeda/Shire Pharmaceuticals, AbbVie, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. The author of papers in both scientific and non-scientific journals, he also is a contributing author of the book Brothers of the Academy: Up and Coming Black Scholars Earning Our Way in Higher Education.

Stark State College is located at 6200 Frank Ave. NW, North Canton.