Media contact: Blair Fannin, 979-845-2259, b-fannin@tamu.edu
FORT WORTH – The National Health Outreach Conference, hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service May 1-3 at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel, will assist Cooperative Extension and public health professionals in addressing emerging health issues and health equity, according to organizers.
Themed “A Grand Vision for a Healthy America,” the conference will highlight national health promotion efforts in real-world practice, research and multi-sector collaborations. For a full schedule and complete registration information, visit https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/nhoc/.
The annual event includes presentations from public health leaders across sectors and cultures, panel discussions, interactive workshops, skill-building sessions and networking opportunities.
On May 1, Dr. Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi, director of the Health Literacy Leadership Institute and professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, will deliver the opening keynote titled, The Intersectionality of Health Literacy, Language and Culture to Promote Health Equity.
Rossi will share insights on integrating health literacy and cultural competency into public health workforce development training to eliminate health disparities.
Other conference keynote sessions include:
– Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, chief medical officer for prevention and chief of the Center for Health Metrics and Evaluation for the American Heart Association, will present Life’s Simple 7: A Key to a Healthy America.
The session will outline the components of a prescription for health developed by the American Heart Association using the best available evidence to offer a pathway for achieving ideal cardiovascular health. Strategies will be presented for improving the health of populations at the city and county levels.
– Dr. Timothy Shaffer, assistant professor, department of communication studies and assistant director, Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy, Kansas State University, will present Civil Discourse and Its Implications: Cultivating Health Communities and a Healthy Democracy in Divided Times.
The session will address the current state of American politics and its impact on institutions, communities and individuals. It will also offer insights into how the breakdown of civil discourse inhibits heath as well as identify the necessity to think about individual and community vitality and health as part of a larger system through civic professionalism.
– Dr. Gail Christopher, founder, Kellogg Foundation Truth Racial Healing and Transformation, Ntianu Center for Healing and Nature, and chair, Board of the Trust for America’s Health, will present Rx Racial Healing: A Path Forward for Creating Health Equity.
This session will offer insights into the human capacity for caring as well as the idea and consequences of believing in human value hierarchy as a cause for health inequities. The presentation will discuss how to overcome this legacy together and gain an understanding of the crucial role racial equity plays in community health and well-being.
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