The University of Vermont's Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, Education and Learning Events took place January 19 to January 29, 2016. The series of activities kicked off Tuesday, January 19, 2016 with a birthday party in the Rosa Parks Room in the Davis Center, and included a Health Equity Lecture presented by the UVM College of Medicine, titled "Achieving Health Equity: Tools for a National Campaign Against Racism," by Camara Jones, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., president-elect of the American Public Health Association, on January 20, 2016, and a screening and discussion on the documentary film "Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?" on January 27 in the Sullivan Classroom in the College's Medical Education Center.
These events were organized by the UVM Office of the Vice President for Human Resources, Diversity and Multicultural Affairs in collaboration with President Tom Sullivan, the Department of Student Life, and the College of Medicine. As part of the celebration, the university also held a "UVM Gives a Dollar" community service fundraiser, accepting donations at receptacles across campus, including in the Given Courtyard atrium at the College of Medicine.
Jones' January 20 lecture followed the College's annual Public Health Projects Poster Session & Celebration. Jones is the director of Social Determinants of Health and Equity at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Featured in the award-winning documentary series, "Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?," Jones is an epidemiologist whose 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.) Jones received her M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine, and both her M.P.H. and Ph.D. degrees in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. She is currently an adjunct associate professor at both the Morehouse School of Medicine and Rollins School of Public Health and a member of the World Health Organization's Scientific Resource Group on Equity and Health and the National Board of Public Health Examiners.
On January 25, UVM hosted a special program honoring King's legacy. Previously-scheduled speaker Michele Norris - an award-winning journalist and author, National Public Radio host and special correspondent, former co-host of National Public Radio’s newsmagazine "All Things Considered," and creator of "The Race Card Project" - was unable to participate due to weather-restricted air travel.
Find out more about UVM's 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, Education and Learning Events.