Students, faculty, staff and public health leaders joined Northwestern University’s Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM) for the institute’s annual Public Health Summit at the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center on April 2.
“This summit, which was previously called our Population Health Forum, has always been a celebration of academic public health at Northwestern University and here in Chicago. This meeting has always represented a coming together to celebrate our shared goals and accomplishments,” said Ronald Ackermann, MD, MPH, senior associate dean for Public Health and director of IPHAM, who welcomed more than 470 attendees to the day’s event.
The day began with a panel discussion moderated by Ackermann, which explored the current state and future of academic public health. Panelists included Sara Becker, PhD, the Alice Hamilton Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science; Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, professor of Pediatrics, of Medicine and of Preventive Medicine, and director of the Center for Food Allergy and Asthma; Darius Tandon, PhD, professor of Medical Social Sciences in the Division of Intervention Science and director of the Center for Community Health; and Michael Wolf, PhD, MPH, associate vice chair for Research in the Department of Medicine and director of the Center for Applied Health Research on Aging.
“We must draw from one another new forms of strength and to identify signs of light that give us optimism for the future of our careers, of academic public health and the health of our communities that we are here to serve,” Ackermann said.
Ali Khan, MD, MPH, MBA, Dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, delivered the summit’s keynote address. Khan, who previously served at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 23 years before retiring as the director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, spoke about the evolution of public health and highlighted the importance of community partnerships, specifically the ALIGN Nebraska Project.
A joint effort between the Partnership for a Healthy Nebraska and the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, the project’s goal is to align Nebraska health insurers and primary care clinics around a curated set of 11 quality health measures to improve adult, pediatric, obstetric and behavioral health.
“I believe right now we are on the cusp of a generational opportunity to improve health in America. If we think about the tools that are available to us, we have the opportunity to help Americans live longer, healthier lives,” Khan said.
Khan also spoke about the current state of public health and emphasized the value of integrating public health and medicine, which can offer complimentary perspectives and ultimately reduce healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes.
“With complex healthcare issues emerging, professionals and students alike require a more global, comprehensive view to tackle new challenges,” Khan said.
The summit also featured scientific poster presentations delivered by faculty, students and community partners across the state, two of which were recognized for their contributions to the field.
Kathy Sliwinski, PhD, a fellow in the Center for Education in Health Sciences, was awarded the Rowland “Bing” Chang Award for Excellence in Research for her poster, “The Impact of the Nurse Work Environment on Disparities in Hospital Readmissions Among Patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP)”.
Alesia O’Daniel, a Northwestern Medicine patient outreach manager, received the Award for Excellence in Research for her poster, “Patient-Centered Care Model to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes.”
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