{"id":25267,"date":"2026-01-20T16:47:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=25267"},"modified":"2026-01-21T10:13:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:13:53","slug":"celebrating-community-and-excellence-at-geisels-2026-mlk-service-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2026\/celebrating-community-and-excellence-at-geisels-2026-mlk-service-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Community and Excellence at Geisel\u2019s 2026 MLK Service Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The 2026 Geisel I AM THE DREAM awardees and speakers. (Photo by Rob Strong)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Geisel School of Medicine\u2019s Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement (DICE) honored the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.\u2019s legacy during its fourth annual, \u201cI AM THE DREAM: Past, Present and Future\u201d service awards luncheon on January 19. The annual event recognizes individuals or organizations who have strengthened communities and created solutions to social problems, advancing King\u2019s vision of a \u201cbeloved community.\u201d This year\u2019s theme, Building Community and Uniting a Nation, is a blueprint for action\u2014guiding programming, fueling outreach, and anchoring DICE\u2019s commitment to building the community King envisioned.<\/p>\n

Steven Leach, MD, Geisel interim dean, who last year received the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award, described today\u2019s celebration as \u201can opportunity to reflect on the past and to recommit ourselves to our ongoing work promoting justice, equity, and compassion.<\/p>\n

He noted King\u2019s vision of a Beloved Community wasn\u2019t symbolic but meant to be lived and built through deliberate action, service, and our willingness to see one another fully. \u201cAt Geisel, it is embedded in our mission and reflected in the work of our students, faculty, and staff who serve with humility, advocate for equality, and support our communities in ways both seen and unseen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, Lisa McBride, PhD, welcomed everyone to celebrate King\u2019s vision of a community \u201cwhere everyone is cared for, absent of poverty, hunger, and hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Encouraging year-round volunteer engagement, McBride cited DICE\u2019s small grant funding would be available to members of Geisel\u2019s community to support individual and group National Days of Service projects that address the ongoing Food is Medicine<\/em> initiative that aims to bridge the connection between food, nutrition, and health in the Upper Valley. She also talked about various DICE sponsored initiatives launched this year, including FreeFoodAlert, Beloved Community Talks<\/em>, and a partnership with the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion whose workshops, using proven empathy and compassion principles, equip faculty, staff, and students with enhanced leadership skills.<\/p>\n

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Uch\u00e9 Blackstock, MD, a physician, author, and founder of Advancing Health Equity (Photo by Rob Strong)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Keynote speaker Uch\u00e9 Blackstock, MD, a physician, author, and founder of Advancing Health Equity, an organization dedicated to partnering with healthcare institutions to dismantle racism and close racial health gaps, talked about the influences of her physician-mother.<\/p>\n

In a conversation with McBride, diverging from a traditional keynote, Blackstock read the introduction to her best-selling book, LEGACY: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine and talked about her mother\u2019s fierce belief in community and her commitment to giving everyone the care they deserve\u2014living King\u2019s legacy as an example for her children.<\/p>\n

As a graduate of Harvard Medical School, \u201cMy mother could have gone anywhere but she went to Harlem Hospital because of a deep commitment to her community and a belief that healing is both scientific and deeply human,\u201d Blackstock said. \u201cShe understood that the issues the community faced were systemic rather than individual. That trust in the healthcare system was broken and needed to be rebuilt. And that understanding your patients\u2019 communities was necessary to ensure they stayed healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intimacy of the conversation facilitated a fluid give and take between McBride, those in the audience, and Blackstock who talked about the need for intentional, integrated power sharing in healthcare and the importance of cross-racial mentoring of Black students in medical school, Black doctors in residency programs, and shared thoughts on solving the diminishing number of Black men applying to medical schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI AM THE DREAM: Past, Present and Future\u201d Service Awards Luncheon Gallery (Photos by Rob Strong)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This year\u2019s I AM THE DREAM awardees\u2014Geisel faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners exemplify the ideals, courage, compassion, dignity, humility, and service that empowered King\u2019s character and his leadership.<\/p>\n