Is health a right for all or a privilege for some? Campus and metro-area community members are invited to discuss this and other questions in a live, interactive satellite conference on race, class and health Jan. 19 at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The national teleconference, hosted by the Public Broadcasting System, will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Coors Events Center rooms 4 and 5. A local panel discussion will follow.
"Many years and research dollars have been spent emphasizing how personal choice affects health," said Dan Raybon, director of CU-Boulder's Cultural Unity Center. "However, this approach fails to address the fact that racial minorities and people who live in poverty are more likely than others in our society to be burdened by such factors as substandard housing, pollution and public policy decisions that contribute to ill health."
The teleconference will bring together community activists and leaders of higher education and public health in a national town meeting to examine pertinent research, case studies, community action strategies and innovative learning approaches to eliminating health disparities.
A local panel discussion will follow from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. featuring Dr. Mary Poole of the Wardenburg Health Center; Patrick Allen, researcher in the department of molecular, cellular and developmental biology; and associate professors Lisa Sun-Hee Park of ethnic studies and women's studies and David Pellow of ethnic studies and sociology.
The teleconference is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the vice chancellor for student affairs, the Office of Diversity and Equity and the Cultural Unity Center. Participants should feel free to bring a lunch. Drinks will be provided.
For more information on conference format and participants, or to RSVP for the event, contact Mary Ann Sergeant in the Office of Diversity and Equity at (303) 492-0680 or Dan Raybon at (303) 492-2168.