“We have arranged another riveting speaker for our annual MLK Lecture,” says Will Ross, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Dean for Diversity and Associate Professor of Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. David Williams, professor of African American Studies, Sociology and Public Health at Harvard University, will speak on “Health in the Social Context – Asserting a Paradigm for True Health Care Reform” at 4 p.m. Monday, January 21 at the School of Medicine’s Eric P. Newman Education Center, 320 S. Euclid Ave.
“David was a key collaborator on the award-winning PBS series; Unnatural Causes: Is inequality Making Us Sick?” Dr. Ross said.
“He and I are members of the Centers for Disease Control Health Disparities Committee. He is an internationally renowned social scientist.”
Dr. Williams’ research has enhanced our understanding of the complex ways in which race, racial discrimination, socioeconomic status and religious involvement can affect physical and mental health. The Everyday Discrimination scale that he developed is currently one of the most widely used measures to assess perceived discrimination in health studies.
The Journal of Black Issues in Higher Education ranked him as the Most Cited Black Scholar in the Social Sciences in 2008. In 2001, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences and in 2007, he was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Williams has been involved in the development of health policy at the national level in the U.S. He has served on the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics and on seven committees for the Institute of Medicine including the Committee that prepared the Unequal Treatment report. He served as a member of the MacArthur Foundation’s Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health.
Dr. Williams has also played a visible, national leadership role in raising awareness levels of the problem of health disparities and identifying interventions to address them. From 2007 through December 2009, he served as the staff director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Commission to Build a Healthier America. This national, independent and nonpartisan health commission was focused on identifying evidence-based non-medical strategies that can improve the health of all Americans and reduce racial and socioeconomic gaps in health.
Dr. Williams holds an MPH degree from Loma Linda University and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan.
“We are extremely fortunate to have him speak this year,” Dr. Ross said, “especially after the inspiring lecture by last year’s MLK speaker Melissa Harris-Perry.”
To RSVP please call (314)362-6854 or email mpatterson@wustl.ed. Parking will be validated for the North Euclid Garage.
