May 11, UAB to Host Poverty and Community Health Conference

Academic and community leaders will share ideas and draft solutions for addressing poverty as a major determinant of community health during a conference May 11 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

April 24, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Academic and community leaders will share ideas and draft solutions for addressing poverty as a major determinant of community health during a conference May 11 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

"The Impact of Poverty on Our Community" event will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the UAB Hill University Center Great Hall, 1400 University Blvd. Registration is $25 and includes lunch. To register call 205-934-8730 or download a registration form at the above link. The conference is co-sponsored by the UAB Center for the Study of Community Health, part of the UAB School of Public Health, and the UAB Center for the Advancement of Youth Health.

UAB President Carol Garrison, Ph.D., will speak about the university's role in community health, and U.S. Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Artur Davis will give the keynote address on the role of government in a healthier society. Retired U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon will give the capstone address summing up the conference and highlighting its conclusions.

Other speakers will include Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper, UAB School of Business Professor Bob Robicheaux, Ph.D., and Rev. Ronnie Williams of Congregations for Public Health Inc., a Birmingham-based nonprofit that represents six congregations. Several hundred participants are expected from the health-care profession and from academics, government and the community.

The goals of the conference include improving the understanding of poverty as a health determinant in terms of the physical, social and educational environment of youth and adults, said meeting organizer Frank Franklin, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the School of Public Health.

"We want to define the interconnections and impact of poverty, education, environment over the entire life cycle, and examine the resources and solutions we need to address the challenge to improving public health," Franklin said.

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