Contact for Journalists Only:
Jennifer Choi
Assistant Director, Media Relations
NYU Medical Center
212-404-3533
E-mail: Jennifer.Choi@nyumc.org

NYU School Of Medicine Hosts its First Conference on the Health of the African Diaspora: Generating Solutions

NEW YORK, January 24, 2006 — New York University School of Medicine will host its first conference on African Diaspora health issues, entitled Generating Solutions. The event will be held February 4, 2006 from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at NYU School of Medicine’s Farkas Auditorium.

The one-day conference will address clinical and policy issues related to five diseases that disproportionately afflict the African Diaspora, which include cardiovascular disease and hypertension, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, asthma, and breast cancer. The conference is intended for physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, public health officials, community leaders, policy makers, students, and educators. The conference will feature outstanding experts and speakers such as:

Deborah Frazer-Howze, President/CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS,

Robert Fullilove, Associate Dean for Community and Minority Affairs and Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University,

Gail Nunlee-Bland, Chief of Endocrinology at Howard University Medical Center,

Mary Bassett, Deputy Commissioner for the Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The conference aims to explore socioeconomic, cultural and educational barriers that perpetuate health disparities in the African Diaspora, highlight realistic solutions to address these disparities, and encourage collaboration amongst health care providers, community leaders, and public health officials.

New York University School of Medicine has been at the forefront of addressing problems related to national and global health disparities. The School has the first and only center for Asian health, as well as a center for health disparities and immigrant health. Its annual conferences on Latino and Asian health have served as important sources of information for health care professionals in the New York metropolitan area regarding the health of underserved communities in the city.

The Conference series on the health of the African Diaspora is designed to facilitate the sharing of information and to foster collaboration amongst New York City Metropolitan area health care professionals in identifying problems and possible solutions, and addressing the causes behind health care disparities and their impact on health care access.

NYU Medical Center is grateful for the support provided by the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation and the William J. Clinton Foundation to the Conference on the Health of the African Diaspora: Generating Solutions.

The conference is free and open to the public.

Additional information and online registration is available at www.med.nyu.edu/diversity_affairs or contact Mekbib Gemeda, Office of Diversity Affairs
Phone: (212) 263-5537
Email: mekbib.gemeda@med.nyu.edu

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