The Skillman Foundation

Dr. Tolulope Sonuyi, an emergency medicine physician at DMC Sinai Grace Hospital, has been an active member of My Brother’s Keeper Detroit since the initiative’s inception in December 2014. His contributions have been invaluable, providing ground-level insight on youth violence in Detroit and forging partnerships that have yielded quick action to diminish its prevalence.

Under Dr. Sonuyi’s leadership, DMC Sinai Grace Hospital and Wayne State University Medical School recently launched a hospital-based violence prevention and intervention program designed to reduce residual community-based violence – with a particular emphasis on young men of color. The program places intervention specialists in the emergency room to work directly with young victims of violent crime, providing them with a suite of targeted case management services and supports. The goal of the program is to help victims, their families and friends, create lasting lifestyle changes, helping to break the cycle of violence that affects far too many young men of color in the city of Detroit.

“My Brother’s Keeper Detroit truly believes in the genius and power of our young people – all the while understanding that it is our dutiful obligation to convene and develop a creative multidisciplinary approach that provides the tools and the space for these community treasures to prosper,” said Dr. Sonuyi. “It is a blessing to be part of this incredibly important and timely work.”

Dr. Sonuyi also facilitated a partnership between Sinai Grace Hospital and Ceasefire Detroit, a community-led program aimed at reducing gang violence by having violent offenders meet with three sets of participants: 1) law enforcement, who explain the consequences of continued violent actions; 2) social service providers, who offer support such as job training and substance abuse counseling, and; 3) individuals from the offender’s own community, including clergy members, ex-offenders and families of violent crime victims, who explain the impact violence has on the entire community and insists that they help put an end to it.

About Dr. Tolulope Sonuyi 

Dr. Sonuyi has been an emergency medicine physician in Detroit for more than seven years and serves as the principal investigator for the DMC Sinai Grace Hospital Intervention Program. He is a member of the Sinai Grace Trauma Committee and Physician Leadership Group. In 2012, he was recognized as Clinical Teacher of the Year for the Sinai-Grace Hospital Emergency Residency Program. Dr. Sonuyi has a deep history of community engagement with individuals and organizations committed to violence prevention on a local and national level. He has engaged with Detroit youth and the community at-large through his work with the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Alkebulan Village and My Brother’s Keeper Detroit.