FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                           

For more information, contact:

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Sheila Champlin – (901) 448-4957, schampli@uthsc.edu or

Dena Owens – (901) 448-4072, dowens10@uthsc.edu

 

CHEER Initiative at

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

 

Memphis, Tenn. (June 9, 2011) – On June 20 through 22, the Consortium for Health Education, Economic Empowerment and Research (CHEER) will host a regional conference to promote health equity among minority communities.  The conference will be held at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis (an agenda is below).  CHEER, an initiative aimed at health equity research and housed at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), is a partnership of seven organizations working to develop, share and implement research that impacts minority health and reduces health inequities.  Led by UTHSC, the consortium also includes LeMoyne-Owen College, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department, Memphis Housing Authority, First Baptist Church Lauderdale, and Mustard Seed, Inc.  Organizations co-sponsoring this year’s CHEER conference include the Healthy Memphis Common Table, the Assisi Foundation and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. 

The conference theme, Empowering Communities to Create a Healthy Village, celebrates CHEER’s mission to build community collaborations that promote healthy lifestyles and economic efficacy for disadvantaged persons in urban, suburban or rural areas.  The conference is designed for local, state, regional and national health practitioners and officials, members of community-based and faith-based organizations, academic experts at colleges and universities, and community residents. 

Empowering Communities speakers include: Brian Smedley, PhD, vice president and director of the Health Policy Institute, a division of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C.; Alvin Poussaint, MD, psychiatrist, media consultant, author, and co-author with Bill Cosby, PhD, of “Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors,” and Bishop William Young, pastor of The Healing Center in Memphis and founder of the annual Suicide and the Black Church Conference.  Panelists include experts from notable academic institutions such as Meharry Medical College, Johns Hopkins University and UTHSC.

            The goals of the conference are to examine the overall health and well-being of minority communities; address economic empowerment as a vehicle for creating healthier citizens; ignite new partnerships focused on health in the Delta region; showcase successful community intervention efforts that have improved minority health, and provide attendees with tools for implementing community-based participatory research in their local areas. 

In addition, during an award ceremony at the conference, CHEER will recognize researcher Leon Caldwell, PhD, for his progress in community-based participatory research in Memphis and other cities in our nation.  Dr. Caldwell, who is currently transitioning to a role as a senior research associate for the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, MD, founded several national and local initiatives aimed at community building and addressing the needs of vulnerable populations.  Among his contributions in Memphis, he facilitated the Think Tank for African-American Progress, founded the Center for the Advancement of Youth Development (www.advancingyouth.org) housed at Rhodes College, and served as lead evaluator of the Just Care Family Network, a counseling system for youth with emotional or behavioral challenges. 

For further conference details and registration information, contact the CHEER project manager, Brandi Franklin, PhD, MBA, at 901-448-1982 or visit: http://www.uthsc.edu/CHEER/healthy_village_2011/.

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service.  In 2011, UT Health Science Center celebrates its centennial: 100 years advancing the future of health care.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  The UTHSC campus in Knoxville includes a College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and an Allied Health Sciences unit. In addition, the UTHSC Chattanooga campus includes a College of Medicine and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  Since its founding in 1911, UTHSC has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals on campuses and in health care facilities across the state.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

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Empowering Communities to Create a Healthy Village

Agenda At-a-Glance

Monday, June 20

§                     08:00 AM-12:00 PM - Pre-Conference Workshop: Grant Writing for Non-Profits

§                     03:00 PM-05:30 PM - Registration Opens, Exhibit Installation Begins

Tuesday, June 21

§                     08:00 AM-09:00 AM - Networking/Exhibit Session

§                     09:00 AM-10:20 AM - General Session I: Connecting Social Conditions and Health

§                     10:35 AM-11:55 AM - Break Out Session A

§                     12:00 PM-01:15 PM - General Session II/Luncheon: Excellence in  

§                     01:15 PM-02:00 PM - Networking/Exhibit Session

§                     02:00 PM-03:30 PM - General Session III: Mental Health in the African American Community

§                     03:45 PM-05:20 PM - Break Out Session B

§                     05:30 PM-07:00 PM - Networking/Exhibit Session, Evening Reception

Wednesday, June 22

§                     07:00 AM-08:00 AM - Networking/Exhibit Session

§                     08:00 AM-09:30 AM - General Session IV: Cardiovascular Disease and Economic Empowerment

§                     09:45 AM-11:30 AM - General Session V: Advocacy/Public Policy