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 Dartmouth Medical School originated in the fall of 2006. The DMS MLK Celebration Committee was then organized and consisted of medical, graduate and undergraduate students and also Dartmouth Medical School 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.
The DMS MLK Celebration committee is proud to report that our first and second year of coordinating events in the medical school has gone well. We have hosted the following events:
2009 MLK Celebration
Theme: PEACE OF MIND: A Series on Stigma, Cultural Psychiatry, and Mental Health Among Medical Professionals.
Events:
- VIDEO - "Struggling in Silence: Medical Student and Physician Depression and Suicide."
- KEYNOTE - "Bringing Culture Into the Clinical Encounter." Francis Lu, MD, DMS '74
- PANEL - "Healing Others, Healing Ourselves: A Panel Discussion on the Stressors of Medical Culture."
Moderator: Dr. Bryant Ford
2008 MLK Celebration
Theme: Healthcare Disparities and the Underserved
Events:
- Harriet Washington, "The Font of Inequity: Some Notes on History, Race and American Medicine."
- Healthcare Disparities Panel Discussion, "Think Globally, Act Locally."
- Keynote Speaker: Will Ross MD, "A Dream Deferred: Reflections on America's Path to Multiculturalism."
2007 MLK Celebration
Theme: HIV AIDS in the Black Community.
Events:
- ABC documentary titled "Out of Control: AIDS in America in Black and White,"
- Martin Luther King Jr. commencement address to the Oberlin College graduating class of 1965 followed with a candlelight vigil.
- Eric Pritchard, "Homophobia and the Struggle Against HIV AIDS in Black Communities,"
- Keynote Speaker: Reverend Eugene Rivers, "The Role of the Black Church in Combating HIV AIDS in the Black Community."