October 13, 2005
Hogness Symposium to examine disparities in health care
Dr. Harold P. Freeman, who has worked in many settings to improve health care, and particularly cancer care, for minority populations, will be the speaker for the 17th John R. Hogness Symposium on Health Care.
Freeman will speak on “Poverty, Culture and Social Injustice: Determinants of Health Disparities” from 3 to 4:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 28, in Hogness Auditorium at the Health Sciences Center. The symposium is free and open to everyone.
The speaker is the founder and medical director of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention in New York City. He is a former associate director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and former director of NCI’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparitites. From 1974 to 1999, he was director of surgery at Harlem Hospital in New York City.
He has worked with the American Cancer Society for many years and served as its national president. He is the chief architect of the American Cancer Society’s Initiative on Cancer in the Poor and is a leading authority on the interrelationships of race, proverty and cancer. The Society established the Harold P. Freeman Award in 1990 to recognize his work. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, in 1997.
He is well known for pioneering the Patient Navigation Program, which addresses disparities in access to treatment, particularly among poor and uninsured people. He was chairman of the President’s Cancer Panel, to which he was appointed for four three-year terms. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Mary Lasker Award for Public Service. He earned his medical degree at Howard University.
The John R. Hogness Symposium on Health Care was established by the UW Board of Regents to honor Hogness when he retired from the UW presidency in 1979. He was the first president of the Institute of Medicine and also president of the Association of Academic Health Centers. He is a former dean of the UW School of Medicine and former medical director of UW Medical Center. Hogness Auditorium is also named for him.
The symposium speaker and topic are chosen by an interdisciplinary planning committee with faculty and student representatives from each of the health sciences schools. For more information on the event, contact Health Sciences/UW Medicine News & Community Relations at 206-543-3620.
– Claire Dietz
