PreMed and PreHealth students attended Igniting Hope 2024: Building an Environmentally Just Community at the Jacobs School of Medicine on September 21.
The annual conference focuses on addressing health equity and the social determinants of health. It is co-sponsored by the Buffalo Center for Health Equity, The Erie County Department of Health, the UB Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and the UB Community Health Equity Research Institute.
Break-out sessions focused on health equity workforce development, housing/green construction, food systems, advocacy and policy, and maternal health and environment. The CEO for the Center of Environmental Justice gave a keynote address, “Women’s Health Equity, Toxics in Our Environment & How We Can Take Action,” which highlighted the role consumer goods play in exposure to toxic chemicals.
Our students volunteered to help run the conference and also helped the Buffalo Center for Health Equity run a Community Day Celebration the night before the conference. A team of Canisius PreMed students were invited by the Buffalo Center for Health Equity to host a nutrition/sugar education table at the celebration to help attendees understand the quantity of sugar contained in commonly consumed food/drink and the impact of excessive sugar consumption on health.
Submitted by: Allyson Backstrom, director, PreMedical Center
