Celebrating Black History Month
The School of Public Health’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion hosted events throughout the month of February in celebration of Black History Month. A full slate of trainings were offered to faculty, staff, and students designed to build a more inclusive School community. UNC’s annual Minority Health Conference was live-streamed at the School of Public Health followed by a discussion led by Shekinah Fashaw, MSPH, a doctoral student in the Department of Health Services, Policy, and Practice.
It’s important that we deal with racism head on, and that we help families navigate and negotiate those situations, because there is promise and resilience and strength in every family.
Raimondo Executive Order
On February 25th, Stephanie Coard, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro delivered the School’s Black History Month keynote, “Strength and Resilience in African American Families.” Drawing on her research and many years of advocacy, Dr. Coard’s talk encouraged a move beyond the deficit framework and toward an understanding of families as a source of resilience.
The School of Public Health was honored to host Governor Gina Raimondo for the signing of an Executive Order that aims to curb healthcare costs in Rhode Island. To do this, the Executive Order establishes a “Rhode Island Health Care Cost Growth Target″ of 3.2 percent—over 2018 health care spending—through 2022 to keep health care costs level with economic growth. This Order is the culmination of long-term collaborative efforts between multiple state government offices and Brown University, funded by a grant from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
This is an exciting opportunity for us to apply our expertise in the service of an important state initiative.
According to Professor Ira Wilson, “It represents a very important and broad based effort on the part of the state to work in a collaborative way with all of the relevant stakeholders to insure that health care costs grow at a reasonable and responsible rate.” Brown faculty involved include Professors Ira Wilson, Anya Rader-Wallack, Orestis Panagiotou, Omar Galárraga, and Amal Trivedi.
