PHSAD’s 29th Annual Minority Conference is focused on incarceration and community health. Held on March 25, 2016 in Lane Auditorium in the School of Public Health, we are bringing in keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Fullilove, Associate Dean, Community and Minority Affairs and Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at the Columbia University Medical Center. Additionally, we have a moderated panel with three individuals who represent different areas within the topic of health within prison systems. The panel will be moderated Reuben Miller, Professor in the School of Social Work, and panelists include Natalie Holbrook, Program Director at American Friends Service Committee in Michigan Criminal Justice Program, Mary Heinen, cofounder of the Prison Creative Arts Project, and Pamela Friess, Health Unit Manager Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHV). After the speakers, we will have a facilitated discussion over lunch around the topic. We ask the question, what are the health consequences of mass incarceration for prisoners, for former prisoners, their families and communities? Since mass incarceration disproportionately impacts racial and ethnic minorities, these are the groups we focus on for the conference. In addition to understanding the public health challenges facing prisoners, former prisoners and their families, we want learn about promising public health interventions helping improve health in these communities. The conference will bring together the above mentioned experts, the SPH community and the general UM community to learn, discuss and be inspired by promising initiatives and current work.
