A conference hosted by the University of Virginia Schools of Law and Medicine will focus on the impact of racial and ethnic discrimination in driving public health disparities.
The event will bring together scholars, clinicians, policymakers and community leaders to take a public health approach in treating and reducing violence, disease and injury due to racism, hate speech, crimes and violence. At the conclusion of the event, participants will announce a civil rights framework to combat health disparities, and generate and disseminate evidenced-based proposals and tools aimed at eliminating health disparities.
"Racism is a potent psychosocial stressor that is characterized by both social ostracism and blocked economic opportunity,” said conference organizer and law professor Dayna Bowen Matthew '87, director of The Equity Center at UVA, a sponsor of the event. "Racism also has led to inequitable access to social, educational and material resources — resources that have both direct and indirect effects on health status. This conference is taking a data-driven approach to start addressing some of these problems."
The conference is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Parking is available at the Law School in D2 and D3 lots. Information about parking at the Medical School is forthcoming.
Tentative Schedule
Friday, Janary 31: The Health Professions and Civil Rights Policy
9-9:15 a.m.: Welcome
Dean David S. Wilkes, M.D., University of Virginia School of Medicine
9:15-9:30 a.m.: Reflections on Healing Hate
John W. Kinney, Professor of Theology; Director, Center for African American Pentecostalism and Leadership Development, Virginia Union University (Invited)
9:30-10 a.m.: Keynote
Vivian Pinn, M.D., Inaugural Director, Office of Research on Women’s Health, National Institutes of Health
10:10-11:10 a.m.: Panel 1 | Guns, Violence and Mental Health
11:20 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: Panel 2 | Maternal Mortality Disparities
12:30-2 p.m.: 2020 MLK UVA Health System Awards Lunch (Registration Required)
Keynote | M. Norman Oliver, M.D., State Health Commissioner, Virginia Department of Health
2:15-3:15 p.m.: Panel 3 | School Discipline Disparities
3:30-5 p.m.: ChangeLab Solutions Workshop No. 2 | Advancing Civil Rights as a Health Determinant in the Health Care System
Sponsored by the Center for Health Policy; ChangeLab Solutions; The Equity Center at UVA; UVA Schools of Nursing, Medicine and Law; Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law; and the W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute.