University of Pittsburgh: Minority Health Leadership Summit.

Minority health leaders and scholars from around the United States will convene in Pittsburgh Jan. 10-11 for the University of Pittsburgh Center for Minority Health’s second annual summit on eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities. The 2002 theme is “The Impact of Discrimination on Health Status.” The two-day summit will be held at the University Club, located on University Place between Fifth Avenue and O’Hara Street in Oakland.

During the summit, the Center for Minority Health will hold a press conference to announce an initiative to eliminate health disparities in the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

The summit is sponsored by the Center for Minority Health at the University’s Graduate School of Public Health; the Office for Civil Rights (Region 3), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and the Maurice Falk Medical Fund.

“Our aim is to mount a comprehensive response to the growing body of scientific evidence that discrimination has invaded the health care delivery system,” said Stephen Thomas, Ph.D., director of the Center for Minority Health and Philip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Social Justice at the University of Pittsburgh. “Since the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, much progress has been made in addressing racism in the United States, but discrimination — usually unintentional — still exists in the provision of health care services. The scientific literature clearly documents restricted access to medical care among minorities.”

The summit will include addresses and panel discussions with leading local and national figures in minority health, including:

Rodney Hood, M.D., past president of the National Medical Association, the nation’s oldest and largest national organization representing African- American physicians and health professionals. Dr. Hood will open the first day’s sessions with a multi-media presentation, “Racism in Medicine and Health Parity for African-Americans: The Slave Health Deficit,” documenting the social and historical context for causes of health disparities today.

Camara Jones, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., director of Social Determinants of Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and founding director, Epidemiology and Clinical Trials Center, the Association of Black Cardiologists. Dr. Jones will discuss her paper on research documenting strategies for overcoming racism in medical care and public health (American Journal of Public Health, Aug. 2000).

H. Jack Geiger, M.D., Arthur C. Logan Professor Emeritus of Community Medicine, City College of New York. Dr. Geiger, a founding member of the Physicians for Social Responsibility, will discuss his research (funded by the Institute of Medicine) documenting evidence of racial discrimination in health care and implications for preparation of a new generation of health professionals.

Michael Smyser, director, King County Health Department (Seattle). Mr. Smyser will discuss his experiences addressing issues of race and health status based on studies conducted in King County.

“An honest and open discussion about race and discrimination in health care is a critical first step, but we are not just wringing our hands over the problem. With financial support from The Pittsburgh Foundation we are launching a major local campaign with community partners to address the issue from the ground up. Pittsburgh is sure to emerge as a model city in eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities,” said Dr. Thomas.

Additional conference sponsors include The Staunton Farm Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, the FISA Foundation, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, UPMC Health System – Office of Community Initiatives, the Health Policy Institute and the Center for Public Health Practice at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, the Komen Foundation Pittsburgh Race for the Cure, the Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania, the Allegheny County Health Department, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Gateway Health Plan, the Faith Based Health Initiative, the Family Health Council and the United Way of Pittsburgh.