UCLA Fielding School of Public Health to host conference on addressing health care inequities

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 9, 2020) – Health care leaders from across the United States will speak at an Oct. 14 event focusing on the critical intersection between social justice and health equity, including bridging gaps in the U.S. health care system and focusing on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic response.

The event, the annual E.R. Brown Symposium themed Healing a Fractured Society: Health Care as a Right, will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday, October 14, and include experts from the fields of public health policy, research, academia, government, advocacy and media.

“Our aim is to not only magnify the many issues that the pandemic has raised during an unprecedented time of civil unrest, but propose action to resolve these systemic issues by looking closely at root causes,” said Ninez Ponce, director of the Fielding School’s UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR). “We hope attendees gain a strong sense of empowerment to tackle and eliminate health inequities which are interwoven with so many other social aspects of our everyday lives.”

The event will be kicked off with a prerecorded statement by the new University of California President, Dr. Michael Drake, who will speak on structural racism and inequities in the U.S. health care system that are being magnified by COVID-19. Panels on social justice and health equity will be led by renowned UCLA professors and researchers – Dr. Michael Rodríguez, professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, professor and vice chair in the Department of Family Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and founding director of the Health Equity Network of the Americas, and Mark Peterson, professor of public policy, political science, and law at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Dean Ron Brookmeyer will introduce Robert K. Ross, president and CEO of The California Endowment, who will provide closing remarks.

The E.R. Brown Symposium, named after UCLA CHPR founder E. Richard “Rick” Brown, is an annual event that honors the life of Rick Brown, who spent his life advocating strongly for a health-care-for-all system that would ensure health services for every Californian.

“The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research was founded by Rick Brown more than 25 years ago with the mission to provide high-quality, objective, and evidence-based data to inform action — to transform research into action and advocacy, to uncover disparities where they exist and to be a champion for health care access and equity,” Ponce said.

The event is free and open to the public. Register to Attend

AGENDA:

E.R. Brown Symposium

Healing a Fractured Society: Health Care as a Right

When: Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Time: 10 a.m.–1 p.m.

1 p.m.–2 p.m. Mentoring Breakouts

Agenda

10:00 a.m. PT

Welcome: Dr. Michael V. Drake, president, University of California (prerecorded)

Overview: Ninez A. Ponce, director, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

10:20 a.m.–11:30 a.m. PT

Panel: Putting Social Justice and Equity at the Front Line in Health Care

• Dr. Sandro Galea, dean and Robert A. Knox professor, Boston University School of Public Health
• Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, executive vice president and COO, Trust for America’s Health
• Dr. Sandra Hernández, president and CEO, California Health Care Foundation

Moderator: Dr. Michael Rodríguez, founding director, Health Equity Network of the Americas; professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health; and professor and vice chair, Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

11:40 a.m.–12:50 p.m. PT

Panel: Repairing a Fractured Health Care System to Fulfill the Promise of Health Equity

• Lanhee Chen, David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
• Dr. Lisa Simpson, president and CEO, AcademyHealth
• Anthony Wright, Executive Director, Health Access California

Moderator: Mark A. Peterson, professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and Law, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

12:50 p.m. PT

Closing remarks: Dr. Robert K. Ross, president and CEO, The California Endowment

Introduction: Dean Ron Brookmeyer, Fielding School of Public Health

1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.PT

Mentoring/networking breakouts

For current students and recent graduates only

The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, founded in 1961, is dedicated to enhancing the public’s health by conducting innovative research, training future leaders and health professionals from diverse backgrounds, translating research into policy and practice, and serving our local communities and the communities of the nation and the world. The school has 690 students from 25 nations engaged in carrying out the vision of building healthy futures in greater Los Angeles, California, the nation and the world.