Family Honors Dentistry Trailblazer with Scholarship

The list of achievements for James A. Booker Jr., D.D.S., M.D., is seemingly never-ending: dentist, medical doctor, trauma surgeon and retired U.S. Air Force colonel. But it was his role as a father of four that had the most impact on JaRita Booker-Pichon, M.P.H., the youngest of his children. 

“My siblings and I have been trying to find ways to honor my dad’s legacy together for some time now,” Booker-Pichon said. “It’s been a long time in the making.”

This year, to honor the 60th anniversary of her father making history as the first Black graduate of the VCU School of Dentistry, his children are coming together to create a student scholarship. Booker-Pichon had begun working on the idea with her siblings James Booker III; Karla Booker, M.D.; and Michael Booker.

“We really hope that this scholarship will support a student who may be in need,” Booker-Pichon said. “We wanted this scholarship to help someone who wants to dedicate their life and career to improving the health of minorities and underserved communities the way our father did.”

As a trailblazer who forged new paths, Dr. Booker faced challenges, but he continued to pursue his goals, even when they took him to new specialties and heights. After graduating, Dr. Booker entered private practice and taught at the Howard University College of Dentistry before he decided to earn a medical degree at 28. Dr. Booker became a board-certified trauma surgeon and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He also dedicated time to academic medicine, teaching at the Martin Luther King/Charles Drew School of Medicine, where he was medical director, and at the Tulane University School of Medicine. Called to serve, he joined the U.S. Air Force and the Air Force Reserves, where he had a successful career as a flight surgeon and served in Operation Desert Storm.

“He just did so many wonderful things,” Booker-Pichon said. “He was always so driven and ambitious, and he also passed that drive on to us. We’re thankful for the opportunity to keep our dad’s name and legacy alive, and we hope that others will come to know how special he was.”

If you would like to support the James Avery Booker Jr. Trailblazer Scholarship, please contact Gloria Greiner-Callihan, associate dean and director of development and alumni relations for the School of Dentistry, at 804-828-8101 or gfcallihan@vcu.edu.