Increasing diversity in the health sciences is a major goal at Loma Linda University Health, and some of the results of that effort will be highlighted next week during the 16th Annual Health Disparities Research Symposium, hosted by LLU Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine.
The symposium takes place Wednesday, Aug. 3, in Wong Kerlee International Conference Center, from noon to 7:45 p.m.
It will kick off with a lunchtime (refreshments served) address titled “From Dirt Roads to the Oval Office” by Gayle Slaughter, PhD, senior associate dean for graduate education and diversity at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She is a nationally recognized leader for her work on diversity at Baylor.
From 2:30 to 5 p.m., minority students who have been mentored in research by faculty affiliated with the Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine will offer scientific poster presentations on their investigations. More than 80 of their research projects will be highlighted.
The students come from local high schools, undergraduate colleges across the nation, medical schools all over the country and Loma Linda University PhD programs.
Refreshments will follow from 5 to 5:30 p.m., after which the evening program will begin.
Slaughter will offer the keynote address, titled “The Impact of Diversity: From an Institution to the Nation.” Roger Hadley, MD, dean of LLU School of Medicine, will be among other speakers for the evening.
The day will end with an acknowledgement of research fellows by the leadership of the LLU Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine.
Guests are encouraged to register for the free symposium by Aug. 1 at llu.edu/hdr. For more information, e-mail chdmm@llu.edu.
The Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine has designation by the National Institutes of Health as a Center of Excellence on Health Disparities Research.
Its research delves into the contributors of health disparities and diseases that disproportionately impact minority and medically underserved populations. Such contributors to these disparities may include biological, environmental and socioeconomic factors.
The center also offers several programs that give high school through graduate-level students experience in researching diseases associated with health disparities.
Learn more about the center at its website.