Igniting Hope Conference continues to break barriers in year five

Now in its fifth year, the Igniting Hope Conference is known in Buffalo and beyond for bringing together community leaders, community members, University at Buffalo faculty, and trainees from multiple UB schools to focus on addressing health equity and the social determinants of health. As Buffalo continues to deal with the aftermath of the May 14 mass shooting, discussing these issues and the road ahead is a vital necessity.

The 2022 conference, titled “Advocating in a New Reality: Breaking Barriers, Maintaining Resilience and Reconstructing a Community of Care,” will be held in-person on Saturday, August 13, at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (as well as concurrently via Zoom). Co-sponsored by the Buffalo Center for Health Equity, the University at Buffalo Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), and the University at Buffalo Community Health Equity Research Institute, Igniting Hope is supported by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences under award numbers R13 TR003486 and UL1 TR001412.

This year’s dual presentation — in-person and online — is a first for the conference. (Register here to attend or watch on August 13.)

“We want to ensure that all members of the community are able to access and enjoy Igniting Hope,” says CTSI Director Timothy F. Murphy, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Director, UB Community Health Equity Research Institute.

Past conferences have drawn hundreds of attendees, as well as widespread media coverage and national attention. In May, faculty from the Jacobs School, School of Nursing, School of Public Health and Health Professions, and School of Architecture and Planning authored a paper published in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science. The paper, titled “A community-university run conference as a catalyst for addressing health disparities in an urban community,” explained how the series has been able to develop and implement initiatives that are having a positive impact on social determinants of health in Buffalo.

“Igniting Hope is a local conference, but it has a national feel,” says Rita Hubbard-Robinson, JD, Chief Executive Officer, NeuWater & Associates, LLC; Associate Director, UB Community Health Equity Research Institute. “Our speakers are always phenomenal, and this year we are very excited at the level of talent that we have been able to draw. It puts our city and those who attend our conference in a position to learn from the brightest minds from around the country and the world — individuals who are at the cutting edge of ways in which we should be thinking.”

“In addition to keynote talks by national leaders in the field of health equity, a popular feature of the conference is always the breakout groups,” says Murphy. “These groups bring community and university groups into conversations to better understand the impact of social determinants of health that exist in our community.”

As noted in a University at Buffalo media release, conference breakout groups have spawned working groups that have begun to implement changes to mitigate some of the inequities in Buffalo. For example, a Fines and Fees working group contributed to a new state law and new policies that have reduced the disproportionate ticketing for traffic violations and resulting driver license suspensions for residents of East Buffalo.

“We have to create the community of care that we so greatly need, especially when thinking about those who have died, who have been traumatized, who have lost their lives from COVID, and who have had COVID and are experiencing a long haul disease,” Robinson says. “All of these things make it so important for us to have this conference.”

The full 2022 conference agenda is:

Plenary Session 1

• 8:30 a.m.: Welcome and Introductions — Timothy F. Murphy, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor; Director, Clinical and Translational Science Institute; Director, Community Health Equity Research Institute
• Opening Remarks — UB President Satish K. Tripathi
• 8:45 a.m.: Perspective and Report on Progress — Rev. George Nicholas, MDiv, Pastor, Lincoln Memorial United Methodist Church; Convener, African American Health Equity Task Force; Chair, Buffalo Center for Health Equity
• 8:55 a.m.: Welcome and Introduction of Keynote Speaker — Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, Vice President for Health Sciences; Dean, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
• 9:05 a.m.: Keynote Speaker and Questions — Ruth Shim, MD, MPH, Associate Dean of Diverse and Inclusive Education, Luke & Grace Kim Professor in Cultural Psychiatry and director of cultural psychiatry, University of California, Davis: “Dismantling Structural Racism: The Path to Achieving Mental Health Equity”
• 9:55 a.m.: Transition to Breakout Sessions
• 10:05 a.m.:  Break-out Sessions
  • Mental Health
  • Housing/Economic Development
  • Food/Nutrition
  • Senior Services

Plenary Session 2

• 11:25 a.m.: Introduction of Keynote Speaker — Rita Hubbard-Robinson, JD, Chief Executive Officer, NeuWater & Associates, LLC; Associate Director, UB Community Health Equity Research Institute
• 11:30 a.m.: Keynote Speaker and Questions — Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III, former pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, and founder of the Black Church Food Security Network: “Beyond Food Charity: How Black Churches Are Organizing for Health, Wealth & Power”
• 12:20 p.m.: Lunch Break

Plenary Session 3

• 1 p.m.: Morning Recap and Welcome to Afternoon Session — Timothy F. Murphy, MD
• 1:05 p.m.: Talk and Survey/Poll on COVID-19 — Stan Martin, MM, Buffalo Office Director/Senior Trainer, CAI
• 1:25 p.m.: Introduction of Keynote Speaker — Henry-Louis Taylor, Jr., PhD, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning; Director, UB Center for Urban Studies; Associate Director, UB Community Health Equity Research Institute
• 1:30 p.m.: Keynote Speaker and Questions — Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, PhD, Leon Forrest Professor of African American Studies, Northwestern University: “Where Do We Go From Here: Racism in the U.S. Since the Summer of 2020”

Closing Plenary Session

• 2:20 p.m.: Reporting Back From Workshop Groups
• 2:30 p.m.: Community Response Panel
• 2:55 p.m.: Conference Evaluation
• 3 p.m.: Closing Remarks — Rev. George Nicholas, MDiv

Visit buffalohealthequity.org for more information or to register.