Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee

Dr King stated, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane."

The idea for a MLK Celebration at Geisel School of Medicine originated in the fall of 2006. The Geisel MLK Celebration Committee was then organized and consisted of medical, graduate and undergraduate students and also Geisel faculty and staff. The committee wanted to highlight the issues championed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and demonstrate how his ideals relate to the field of medicine and why they need to be addressed by the medical community.

2013 Geisel MLK Celebration Committee - Statement of Purpose

Theme: Solutions for Overcoming Mistrust in Healthcare - What Can We Do?

The healthcare system in the US is changing. This has raised a lot of controversy in our communities. Some of the most talked about issues include the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the rising costs of healthcare and health insurance, and the need to restructure healthcare delivery. There are many players, potentially the most affected of which are the patients. This is reshaping the nature of mistrust in the healthcare system, especially in under-resourced communities and communities of color where mistrust in healthcare has always been an issue. The medical community at Dartmouth has watched this changing climate and wants to take action. Changing times are always an opportunity to step in and set a new path.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for speaking out in support of equality in every sense of the word. He also stood for backing up our words with action. We have identified certain factors that may have contributed to this mistrust, particularly misinformation and a lack of access to proper healthcare. This year we plan to model the Geisel MLK celebration after Dr. King's philosophy by redefining our purpose. We will return to the original intent of MLK day by both drawing the attention of our medical community to the pertinent issue of mistrust in healthcare and also calling us to go out and take action.

This year, our keynote speaker will be Roy Wade MD, PhD, MPH. He is trained as a pediatrician and is currently doing a minority health policy fellowship through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. His recent policy work involves researching poverty medicine and trauma and their long-term effects on children of color. We plan to make this year's keynote more of a dialogue so it can be a jumping-off point for our community outreach efforts. We have several ideas for how we can serve the under-resourced and minority communities around us and put our words into action. We will identify their needs, determine how best we can serve them and implement these solutions. In the process, we will work to overcome mistrust in healthcare.

Upcoming 2013 Geisel MLK Celebration Events

About Roy Wade, MD ('07), PhD, MPH

Roy Wade, MD ('07), is currently a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a clinician in the General Pediatrics Department at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He recently completed a Commonwealth Fund Harvard Minority Health Policy Fellowship at the Harvard School of Medicine and Harvard School of Public Health earning a MPH in Health Policy and Management.

Roy is a pediatrician who completed his pediatric residency at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA in July of 2010. During his medical training, Roy participated in several community service projects including volunteering at the Charlottesville Free Clinic and sitting on a committee organized by the Thomas Jefferson Health District designed to identify and address factors contributing to disparities in infant mortality for disadvantaged populations in the local community.

He studies poverty and early childhood adversity highlighting the role that these factors play in creating health disparities for low-income populations and communities of color. Through his work, he plans to translate academic research into effective strategies to improve the social capacity of low-income communities, decreasing poverty and its related disparities.

Past Celebrations

Geisel's MLK Celebration committee is proud to report that our Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations have been well received by our medical community. We have hosted the following events:

2012 MLK Celebration

2011 MLK Celebration

2010 MLK Celebration
Theme: HEALTHCARE REFORM - FROM THE CAPITOL TO THE CLINIC

VIDEO: THE POTUS ON HEALTHCARE:
"A History of Presidential Opinion From FDR to Obama"
Steve Agbor Geisel II compiled speeches on past presidential healthcare reform policies

KEYNOTE: Quality Healthcare for All: "Why We Can't Wait"
Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim MD

PANEL: "Health, Gender, Justice: Caring for Transgender Patients"
Moderator: Rachel Coombs Geisel I

PANEL: "Healthcare Reform - Current Challenges, Future Solutions"
Moderator: Mark Splaine, MD
Panelists:

2009 MLK Celebration
Theme: PEACE OF MIND: A Series on Stigma, Cultural Psychiatry, and Mental Health Among Medical Professionals.

Events:

2008 MLK Celebration
Theme: Healthcare Disparities and the Underserved
Events:

2007 MLK Celebration
Theme: HIV AIDS in the Black Community.
Events:

MLK Celebration Resources
Dartmouth College MLK Celebration
MLK Social Justice Awards