A nationally renowned authority on the impact of community, social and environmental issues on public health is the keynote speaker at the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2009 Salute to Excellence in Health Care Luncheon, being held on Saturday, April 25 at the downtown St. Louis Ballpark Hilton.
Dr. Beverly Coleman-Miller is president of the BCM Group, Inc. in Washington, D.C. She is also currently a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Coleman-Miller speaks, consults and writes about public health issues, particularly those affecting families and children.
At the salute, Coleman-Miller will discuss aggravating social circumstances that affect health problems such as obesity, disparities, asthma and cardiovascular disease.
“There are determinants of health that we need to look at beyond just someone having high blood pressure and diabetes because they smoke or because they were born with it,” Coleman-Miller said. “Being able to buy fresh produce in your neighborhood is a factor but above and beyond that, being able to understand the role of race and racism in health care is something that needs to be dealt with.”
Coleman-Miller belongs to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention working group that is looking at racism and social determinants of health.
“Obesity is something we need to take personal responsibility for and at the same time we need to look at what else is happening around obesity that it has become so prevalent in this day and age.”
She said one way communities can change disparities is by forming food coops in areas where fast food restaurants are prevalent and there is no access to fresh produce.
Other areas of expertise for Coleman-Miller are domestic and urban violence. She has been interviewed on “Sixty Minutes,” “CNN Today” and “A Current Affair.”
As public health advocate, Coleman-Miller has testified to Congress on crime bills and violence as a public health issues. Recently she was the initiator of a successful public law intended to develop a program to assist children who witness violence.
Coleman-Miller has served as an advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and a consultant to the World Health organization. She regularly consults for numerous agencies and programs within the Department of Health and Human Services. She is also a member of the African-American Think Tank on Violence Prevention, centered in Atlanta, Georgia.
As a lecturer, she has addressed the Maryland Medical Society, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the National Police Association, the Georgetown University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University and the National Children’s Hospital, among many others.
Prior to founding her own company, Coleman-Miller served as the Special Assistant for Medical Affairs to the D. C. Commissioner of Public Health and spent many years providing direct medical care to high-risk, low-income patients in federally funded clinics. Before entering medical school, Coleman-Miller worked as a medical and surgical nurse for 15 years, with a concentration in community and mental health issues. This dual perspective has helped provide her with a unique insight into the changing world of medical practice in the past decades.
Coleman-Miller earned a M.D. degree from the Temple University School of Medicine and a B. S. degree in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She served her residency in Internal Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Two outstanding health care professionals will receive lifetime achiever awards and eight others are being recognized for their work to improve health in the St. Louis community at the ninth annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care April 25. Check next week’s St. Louis American for more details.
Tickets for the 501(c)3 event are $75, $50 and $40, and tables of 10 are available. For tickets or additional information about the Luncheon, call 314-533-8000 or visit stlamerican.com.