Career - Mrs. Earnestine (Mikki) Thompson is an accomplished Black leader in the Florida’s healthcare ecosystem. She became a registered and licensed Respiratory Therapist in the 1980’s when Respiratory therapy was just starting to gain footing. Mrs. Thompson soon became an experienced clinician and an adjunct professor of this discipline. As a Professor and a Therapist, she committed herself to the profession, she served as President of the Florida Society of Respiratory Care in 1999 and has served as a Delegate to the American Association of Respiratory Care for over 10 years. In October of 2020 she finally retired as a clinician, but her role is still very active and engaged in the health and wellness of the community she serves, as well as, maintaining her responsibilities as a professor at Barry University.

Her Beliefs – Earnestine, is her birth given name, and it serves her well; for she earnestly believes in a brighter future for all and a brighter future ahead. She believes that the Tuskegee Study did a disfavor to the African American community, not only during the mid-1900s, but even today. The impact of the Tuskegee Study is ever so present in the year of 2021 as COVID vaccines are rolling out. Our African American population has a much higher level of medical mistrust and does not entirely trust what authorities have to say about being vaccinated. Earnestine’s personal mission is to help her community remember the traumas of the past, but forgive and let go to foster a brighter future.