College Anchors 25th Annual MLK Health Sciences Program
Each year the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers and the U-M health sciences schools and colleges collaborate for the planning of the MLK Health Sciences Program, in commemoration of the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year’s 25th annual event was held on Monday, January 19, 2015 and featured a keynote address by Dr. Marie A. Chisholm-Burns, PharmD, MPH, MBA, FCCP, FASHP, Dean and Professor of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy and Professor of Surgery in the College of Medicine.
In her lecture entitled, "Unity not Uniformity: A Spotlight on Health Disparities", Dr. Chisholm-Burns provided a comprehensive overview of health disparities causes and their devastating consequences. She shared a variety of methods to combat disparities and urged providers to change the narrative from a discussion of health disparities to that of health equity, which is defined as the attainment of the highest level of health for all people. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared this vision nearly 50 years ago. View the program.
In addition to the keynote lecture, the winners of the MLK Health Sciences Student Project Competition, sponsored by the MLK Health Sciences Committee, were announced at Monday’s event. The competition encouraged student organizations to address health disparities in honor of Dr. King’s legacy. Previous (category 1) and future projects (category 2) from undergraduate, graduate, and professional student organizations of the health sciences schools and colleges were considered.
The U-M College of Pharmacy’s Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) received first place awards in both categories for their past collaborative health fair “Interdisciplinary Influenza Community Vaccination Clinics” and a planned after-school program “Girls Move.” The organization will receive $500 cash awards for their work on each project.
“This is a special time of year for SNPhA, as individuals convene university-wide to address issues central to our mission. It’s a time to celebrate our progress and reflect upon our long journey to health equity,” states Chivonne Gammon, PharmD’17, President Elect of SNPhA.
One community vaccination effort, The St. Mary’s Flu Clinic, was held in collaboration with the medical student organization LANAMA and served the Hispanic population of Ann Arbor. Thanks to a donation of vaccines from St. Joseph Mercy, PharmD students were able to administer flu shots to this population. SNPhA’s after school program, Girls Move, has just entered the second week of programming. Thanks to volunteer instructors, the program offers exercises such as Zumba, yoga, and various types of dance to high school girls. These sessions are followed by enrichment activities which are led by U-M PharmD students.
“The MLK Health Sciences awards will be used to help SNPhA continue its mission of service for the underserved,” adds Alenu Wu, PharmD’16, Treasurer of SNPhA.
“Congratulations to our students in SNPhA. Their attitude and contributions embody the spirit of engagement espoused by Dr. King and our speaker, Dean Chisholm-Burns. It’s great to see an energetic student group create and advance programs that benefit our community,” states Dean Jim Dalton.
The 2015 MLK Health Sciences Committee will conclude its programming next month with an event entitled: “Health Disparities in the Management of HIV-AIDS & Ebola: A Dialogue on the book And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic.” The event will be held on February 26, 2015 from 6pm – 8pm in the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery.
The MLK Health Sciences Program is sponsored by the U-M Hospitals & Health Centers and the U-M Schools & Colleges of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Social Work. Planning committee members represent these units as well as the Michigan Institute for Clinical Health Research (MICHR) and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion. The College of Pharmacy was the lead unit in the planning of the 2015 MLK Health Sciences events.
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