The UAB Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center hosted its annual UAB Health Disparities Research Symposium on Thursday, September 8, 2022.

The virtual symposium was part of the Center's 20th Anniversary, celebrated throughout September. 

The session, which was moderated by Regina Benjamin, M.D., 18th United States surgeon general, included the following panelists:

• Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, M.D., Director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, NIH
• Marcella Nunez-Smith, M.D., MHS, Founding Director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center, Yale School of Medicine
• George A. Mensah, M.D., FACC Director, Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH

Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable started the symposium by posing a question to the group, which led to a lively conversation among the speakers.

The conversation ebbed and flowed from the goal of health equity to the realities and challenges of health disparities. The importance of community engagement work was discussed as well as the importance of language in addressing problems that not only face America but the world.

As strategies were reflected on, so were outcomes and possible ways forward including the many lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and working with students. One of the big takeaways was to never stop striving for health equity, but to work toward it one step at a time.

Lastly, Dr. Pérez-Stable thanked Dr. Mona Fouad and everyone at the MHERC for answering the call to eliminate health disparities and work for health equity, a job Fouad had pioneered for decades.

Download Dr. Mensah's slides and watch the full symposium below.