L-R Hon. Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough
President, Hon. Yvonne Graham, Brooklyn Deputy
Borough President and Dr. Marco M. Mason.

Hon. Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President, honors Dr. Marco Mason, a medical sociologist, long time political ally and community leader for his many years of outstanding and dedicated community service. The occasion takes place at the Borough President’s annual banquet, in February, commemorating the Chinese New Year.

Brooklyn boast the largest Chinatown in New York City; hence the Boro President’s Chinese New Year celebration was held simultaneously at the top two Chinese Restaurants in Brooklyn’s Chinatown-Ming Gee and Jade Plaza in the Sunset park Neighborhood. Under the Chinese Lunar Calendar, this year is 4701-the year of the monkey. The monkeys are known to be mischievous, vain and clever. According to the Chinese, people born in the year of the monkey most notable traits are originality and creativity. They prize culture and education. They have fantastic memories and can remember the tiniest details. They are practical decision makers and have good common sense and are adored for their wit, high intelligence and interest in world affairs, Hearing this, Dr. Mason stated that he was pleased to be honored in the year of the monkey. The event was co-sponsored by The Best of Brooklyn, Inc. and Brooklyn Community Events, Inc., with proceeds earmarked to benefit Camp Brooklyn, a program that provides a free sleep-away Summer Camp experience to Brooklyn’s undeserved youth.

The event drew a huge cross-section of leaders from the cultural, corporate, civic, business and community sectors, including a delegation of representatives from the Panamanian-American Community, who came out to salute Dr. Mason

Since his arrival to the United States from Panama, in the early 1960's, Dr. Marco A. Mason has achieved a distinguished record of leadership as a well-known scholar/activist. Dr. Mason is one of the founding members of the Caribbean Women's Health Association; where he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer.

He served on the faculty of a number of colleges and universities, most recently as a clinical Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook; School of Social Work, School of Medicine, and School of Health Management and Technology.

Currently, he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor with the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Medgar Evers College, City University of New York. Dr. Mason serves on the Advisory Board of the Caribbean Research Center at Medgar Evers College; and the Boards of the Caribbean-American Comprehensive Community Center, the Caribbean Action Lobby, on the Board of Governors of the Caribbean Public Health Association, on the Advisory Board of the University Hospital of Brooklyn, SUNY Downstate Medical Center. He is a prominent member of the Public Health Association of New York City.

He has served on the Community Advisory Board of Brookdale Hospital. He serves on the Advisory Council of New York State Refugee and Immigrant Health Professional Transition Initiative, New York Immigration Coalition, the Advisory Board of Bellevue Hospital's Occupational and Environmental Health Clinic. He serves on the Executive Committee of Providence Clinical Society. He is the Vice-Chairman of New York City Community Board #9. He served on the Advisory Board of New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, New York City Fatality Review Panel, New York State Governor's Advisory Committee for Black Affairs' Caribbean Immigrants Panel, and the National Resource Person Network of the Office of Minority Health at the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Mason is a technical expert in U.S. Immigration Policy and is duly accredited to practice Immigration Law before the Immigration and Naturalization Court and the Board of Immigration Appeals. He was cited by the US Department of Justice for his "Outstanding services in assisting immigrants with status adjustments".

He is a seasoned global traveler with extensive educational and professional-related international tours throughout Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. He serves as a United Nations Social and Economic Council’s accredited delegate to the United Nations International Conferences
as official representative of non-governmental organizations.

He is a passionate Public Health and Immigration Policy Advocate. As a consultant, Dr. Mason serves a number of private, public, and international sectors organizations. His principal scholarly interests include: US Immigration Policy Impact on Ethnic Communities, Delivering Culturally Competent Services to Ethnic Groups, Patterns of Caribbean Immigration to the United States. He has written extensively on these topics. He has a Doctorate in Social Welfare (Immigration and Health Policy) from the City University of New York.
Dr. Mason is the recipient of more than fifty awards and citations for "Dedicated service rendered to the Caribbean-American Community" as recognized by the National coverage in special feature story "MARCO MASON: A CHAMPION OF ETHNICITY" February 1998, issue of The Medical Herald, "America's Premier National Urban Monthly Newspaper".

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