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Background

The President’s Forum is a signature element of the University at Albany’s Health Disparities Research Training program at the Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities (CEMHD), which serves faculty and students across the campus, as well as the community. The  Forum on Health Disparities is designed to bring to campus a preeminent scholar in health disparities to share their insights and understandings within the discipline – a learning and knowledge sharing opportunity for all.

2018 Health Disparities
April 24, 2018 - President's Forum on Health Disparities

It is also intended to provide an opportunity to share ideas and foster new collaborations. To that end, this year’s Forum will include, in addition to our keynote speaker, an interactive panel on the theme of Community Engaged Research. The panel will feature four faculty researchers and community partners. This panel represents just a fraction of the community-engaged health disparities issues that is currently taking place at the University at Albany. Please visit the CEMHD website and the University’s Minority Health Disparities website to learn more.

The Forum is supported by an award from the NIH’s National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities received in 2016.  The award created a 10 million dollar endowment, which stays with the University in perpetuity, and which generates revenue to be used exclusively for work on health disparities.  In 2020, the program was augmented by a generous award from the Hearst Foundations to support additional doctoral fellowships for students focusing their research on health disparities.

The CEMHD, established in 2005, has been supported since its inception by nearly $18 million of NIH funding, as well as with critical support from the University, including the Division for Research and Economic Development, and the University at Albany’s President Dr. Havidán Rodríguez. Since coming to UAlbany in 2017, President Rodríguez has been a staunch supporter of the University’s’ overarching efforts to study and eliminate racial and ethnic minority health disparities. President Rodríguez has further elevated the work of the CEMHD, and together with an ongoing constellation of activities initiated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has made the elimination of health disparities and the achievement of health equity a signature strength the University.