AAMC President to Speak at MU
and Health Equity Conference

National medical community leaders will describe how health care can improve for everyone

Darrell Kirch, MD, leader of the association that represents the nation's medical schools, teaching hospitals and academic societies, will present two lectures on Friday, April 27, in Columbia, Mo. His lecture from noon to 1 p.m. in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, Room S255, is free and open to the public. His lecture from 9 to 10 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn Conference Center is part of the Missouri Health Equity Collaborative Conference.

Kirch

Kirch is president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). A distinguished physician, educator and medical scientist, he speaks and publishes widely on the need for transformation in the nation's health care system and how academic medicine can lead that change across medical education, biomedical research and patient care. Prior to becoming AAMC president in 2006, Kirch served as dean and leader of academic health systems at two institutions. He has co-chaired the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting body for U.S. medical schools, and now serves as a member-at-large of the National Board of Medical Examiners and as chair of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Special Medical Advisory Group. Kirch also is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

A psychiatrist and clinical neuroscientist by training, Kirch began his career at the National Institute of Mental Health, becoming the acting scientific director in 1993 and receiving the Outstanding Service Medal of the United States Public Health Service.

Kirch's noon to 1 p.m. lecture at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, which is open to the public, is titled "Can the University of Missouri Lead the Way for a New Excellence in Academic Medicine?" His 9 to 10 a.m. lecture, which is part of the Missouri Health Equity Collaborative Conference, is titled "Can America Achieve Health Equity?"

The Missouri Health Equity Collaborative, a project of the University of Missouri Center for Health Policy, will host its first health equity conference, "Healthy Lives, Healthy Communities: Building Health Equity in Missouri, One Community at a Time," from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, April 27, at the Hilton Garden Inn Conference Center in Columbia.

The "Healthy Lives, Healthy Communities" conference will bring together statewide researchers, program planners and other health care advocates. The conference will cover racial and ethnic health disparities, newcomer and immigrant health disparities, health disparities for individuals with mental health conditions and LGBT health disparities.

In addition to Kirch, featured conference presenters will include Thomas LaVeist, PhD, director of the Center for Health Disparities Solutions and William C. and Nancy F. Richardson Professor in Health Policy at Johns Hopkins University. LaVeist completed his doctorate in medical sociology and a postdoctoral fellowship in public health at the University of Michigan. His dissertation was awarded the 1989 Roberta G. Simmons Outstanding Dissertation Award by the American Sociological Association. He was appointed a fellow at the Brookdale Foundation, awarded the "Knowledge Award" from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, and the "Innovation Award" by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. LaVeist has published numerous articles in leading scientific journals, and authored two books on health disparities.

The cost of the conference is $50. Additional details and registration are available at: http://healthpolicy.missouri.edu/projects-healthequity.html.

Conference sponsors include the MU Center for Health Policy and the Missouri Health Equity Collaborative, MU School of Medicine, MU Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, Missouri Foundation for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Missouri Primary Care Association, Missouri Hospital Association, Primaris, Master of Public Health Program, MU School of Social Work, the Sinclair School of Nursing and the Office of Continuing Medical Education.

Click here to download a high-resolution portrait of Kirch.