Research Symposium

UAB 2025 Health Disparities Research Symposium

Optimizing Health Across the Life Course

Thursday, April 3, 2025
Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC)
2100 Richard Arrington Jr Blvd N, Birmingham, AL 35203

The UAB Health Disparities Research Symposium highlights the work of undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral and faculty investigators in clinical, behavioral, social, and community-based research related to health disparities. The keynote address for this year’s symposium will be given by Dr. David R. Williams, Norman Professor of Public Health, at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Every year the symposium highlights the work of undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral and faculty investigators in clinical, behavioral, social, and community-based research related to health equity and health disparities.

Abstract Submission

Agenda - Coming Soon!

About the 2025 Keynote Speaker

Dr. David R. Williams

David Williams is the Norman Professor of Public Health at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and a Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. His prior academic appointments were at Yale University and the University of Michigan. He received his early education in St. Lucia, holds master’s degrees in Divinity and Public Health and a Ph.D in sociology from the University of Michigan.

He is an internationally recognized authority on social influences on health and has been invited to keynote scientific conferences around the world. The author of more than 500 scientific papers, his research has enhanced our understanding of the ways in which race, socioeconomic status, stress, racism, health behavior and religious involvement can affect health. The Everyday Discrimination Scale that he developed is the most widely used measure of discrimination in health studies.

He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK. He has a been ranked as the Most Cited Black Scholar in the Social Sciences, worldwide, and as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds. He has received distinguished contribution awards from the American Sociological Association, the American Psychological Association and the New York Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Williams has been involved in the development of health policy in the US and elsewhere. Currently, he serves on the Board of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the UK’s National Health Service’s Race and Health Observatory, and as a member of the Kellogg Foundation’s Solidarity Council on Racial Equity. He was also a key scientific advisor to the award-winning PBS film series, Unnatural Causes: Is inequality Making Us Sick? He has been featured in his TED Talk and by most of America’s top print and television news organizations and Toronto’s Public Television (TVO).

The Panel Discussion

This year’s symposium will include a panel discussion presented in partnership with the Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health. The discussion, titled “Lessons Learned: Optimizing Health at Home and Abroad,” will explore solutions for improving health outcomes.

Panelists

Panelist | Wagida A. Anwar, M.B.B.Ch, M. Sc., M.D.
Dr. Anwar is an esteemed professor of public health at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt and has led research initiatives on cancer risk, environmental health, and non-communicable disease prevention. With more than 100 international and national publications, and several international prizes and awards, she has played an important role in national and international efforts to improve public health policies and education on a global scale.

Panelist | John Ruffin, Ph.D.
Founding Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and champion for the area of health disparities research and promoting scientists in the field of biomedical sciences. The hallmark of Dr. Ruffin’s career has been his success in institutionalizing minority health and health disparities research within the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the creation of a health disparities research enterprise with global reach.

Panelist & Keynote Speaker | Dr. David R. Williams
Dr. Williams is an author of more than 500 scientific papers and an internationally recognized authority on social influences on health. His research enhanced our understanding of the ways in which race, socioeconomic status, stress, racism, health behavior and religious involvement can affect health. The Everyday Discrimination Scale he developed is the most widely used measure of discrimination in health studies.

Co-Moderator | Alan Tita, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Tita is a global leader in maternal-fetal medicine and serves as the UAB Mary Heersink Endowed Chair of Global Health, Director of the Mary Heersink Institute of Global Health, and the Heersink School of Medicine Senior Associate Dean for Global Health and Women’s Health. He is also a consultant for the World Health Organization (WHO), NIH, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Tita’s leadership in clinical has shaped medical practices and global policies.

Co-Moderator | Ethlyn McQueen Gibson, DNP, MSN, RN-BC
Dr. McQueen-Gibson is a Senior Research Consultant at Johns Hopkins University and an adjunct professor at multiple institutions, focusing on Alzheimer’s research. Previously, she led the Center for Gerontology Excellence and Minority Aging at Hampton University. A U.S. Army Nurse Corps veteran with over 40 years in nursing, she is a Fellow in Applied Gerontology. Her NIH-funded research addresses cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s interventions, and health messaging. She serves on multiple boards, including as President of the Southern Gerontological Society.

SGS Logo
This year’s symposium is being held in conjunction with the Southern Gerontological Society’s (SGS) 46th Annual Meeting and Conference, Building Bridges: Collaborations and Communities in Aging, to be held April 3-6, 2025, at the BJCC. For more information about attending and/or presenting at the SGS Annual Meeting and Conference, please visit their website: 2025 Annual Conference | Southern Gerontological Society | SGS.