Student-organized HEAL conference focused on promoting health equity in the U.S. and globally
May 12, 2021 In a year marked by the collective trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased public reckoning around racism in the U.S., the 2021 Health Equity and Leadership (HEAL) Conference at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health kicked off with a call to reimagine what it means to practice public health.
Affirming human life is at the field’s core, said Rev. Karlene Griffiths Sekou of The Dignity Project International in her keynote remarks. “What then does is mean to address health equity, and to be leaders in this moment?” Sekou called on attendees at the April 30, 2021 virtual event to ask questions at their workplaces about how marginalized people will be affected by programs and policies and to go a step farther and bring those communities into discussions about solutions.