News

Experts to Focus on Disparities in Health at Alumni Day 2006

(Reprinted from EPH Today)

In a 2002 report by the Institute of Medicine, “Unequal Treatment: What Healthcare Providers Need to Know about Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare,” it reviewed more than 100 studies that examined the quality of health care for the major ethnic and racial minority groups in this country. Controlling for differences in patient income, insurance status and other access-related variables, minorities in the US are less likely, sometimes by more than 50% than whites, to receive needed services. Almost all major categories of morbidity were represented in these studies including cardiovascular disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and mental illness.

The focus of Alumni Day 2006 is Separate and Unequal: Confronting Disparities in Health. The program is designed to give alumni an overview of the opportunities and challenges facing the field in eliminating health disparities both short- and long-term. Two well-known researchers will be featured speakers: Cynthia Gomez, PhD, Director of Health Equity Initiatives at the University of California at San Francisco and Vence L. Bonham, J.D. Senior Advisor to the Director on Societal Implications of Genomics and Chief of the Education and Community Involvement Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland. Both speakers will explore strategies and challenges for making changes in the field. A panel of faculty and alumni experts will discuss health disparities from the perspective of their own work which includes health behaviors, cancer research, HIV/AIDS, clinical outcomes, infectious disease, nursing and public health practice. They will also discuss initiatives in clinical and public health education that are helping to recruit more underrepresented minority students to the health professions and to prepare new professionals for research and practice in areas that relate to health disparities.

Honored at the annual Awards Luncheon this year will be Irene Trowell-Harris EdD, MPH ’73, who will be the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award; Katrina Clark, MPH ’71 who will receive the Special EMAC Award; Curtis Patton, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology and Chair of the International Downs Committee, who will receive the 2006 Award for Excellence; and Elizabeth Schauer, MPH ’96, who will receive the New Professionals Award given in memory of Eric Mood, MPH ’47. Public Service Honor Roll inductees will be Judith Stavisky, MPH ’80 and Matthew Lopes, MPH ’77.

Alumni Day also includes an invitation for alumni to attend a cocktail reception and New England Lobster and Clam Bake, evening events traditionally shared with YSM alumni on the Harkness Patio.