Camara Phyllis Jones, M.D., Ph.D., president of the American Public Health Association (APHA), will be the keynote speaker at the annual APHA Region VII conference at the University of Nebraska Medical Center on April 27-28. The conference is hosted by the Public Health Association of Nebraska (PHAN).
“Big Challenges, Big Opportunities” is the title of the conference to be held at the UNMC College of Public Health, room 3013. Dr. Jones will speak at 3:15 p.m. on April 27. Although the conference is free and open to the public, registration is required.
Dr. Jones is a senior fellow at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and the Cardiovascular Research Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine. A family physician and epidemiologist, her work focuses on the impact of racism on the health and well-being of the nation. She seeks to broaden the national health debate to include not only universal access to high quality health care, but also attention to the social determinants of health – including poverty – and the social determinants of equity, including racism.
As a methodologist, Dr. Jones has developed new techniques for comparing full distributions of data, rather than simply comparing means or proportions in order to investigate population-level risk factors and propose population-level interventions.
As a social epidemiologist, her work on race-associated differences in health outcomes goes beyond documenting those differences to vigorously investigating the structural causes of the differences.
Brandon Grimm, Ph.D., director of the Office of Public Health Practice, and assistant professor of health promotion in the UNMC College of Public Health, is the president of PHAN. He was instrumental in bringing the conference to UNMC.
“PHAN is thrilled to lead this year’s APHA Region VII Conference,” Dr. Grimm said. “As the landscape of public health and health care changes, it is important to have conversations that can lead to solutions about complex issues like climate change, Medicaid expansion and health equity.
“It is exciting to be able to have these conversations with our regional partners and even more exciting that APHA president, Dr. Camara Jones, will be here. This is a great opportunity for Nebraska and the entire region.”
This year’s conference also features presenters from Region VII, which includes Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and Kansas. Dr. Grimm said they are thought leaders who will share their insights on the latest strategies, trends and best practices from their state.
Topics include climate change, clean power, public health law, accreditation and Medicaid expansion. Nebraska State Sen. Ken Harr, district 21, will be on the clean power panel and Sen. John McCollister, district 20, will be on the Medicaid expansion panel.
Attendance for all or part of the conference, or to watch it online, requires free registration.
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