MORGAN STATE PRESENTS FORUM ON PUBLIC HEALTH CRISES IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

Urban Problems Including Disease and Violence Deemed "Preventable" With Health Behavioral Changes

Morgan State University's Public Health Program will host a forum to address the critical need for behavioral health changes in the African-American community. The forum, titled "Health Behavioral Change: The Public Health Imperative", will feature Dr. Jay Carrington Chunn, a renowned speaker and researcher in the field of public health, and associate vice president for Academic Affairs and principal investigator of the National Center for Health Behavioral Change at Morgan State. Dr. Chunn has conducted grand rounds at Harlem Hospital, UCLA Medical Center, Charles Drew University of Medicine and Sciences and at other major health centers in the country. The forum will be held from 1:00- 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, 2003 at the Clarence Mitchell Jr. School of Engineering, Room 241, on Morgan State's campus, 5200 Perring Parkway, Baltimore, MD.

Editor and co-author of a new book, The Health Behavioral Change Imperative, Dr. Chunn asserts that deadly diseases such as HIV-AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and stroke, among others, are "decimating communities of color." He adds that hundreds of young people in Baltimore, primarily young African-American men between the ages of 16 and 26 are being killed on the streets, with similar numbers nationally in urban areas. He believes that with proper education, these critical problems are quite preventable.

"The vast majority of the fatal and life-altering diseases we collectively face are preventable at a rate between 95 and 98 percent, but only if health behaviors radically change," said Dr. Chunn. "In order to accomplish this, a 'new breed' of advanced public health practitioner needs to be trained as quickly and efficiently as possible, and capable of performing direct community-based prevention in urban communities."

Realizing the dire need for change, in 1996 Dr. Chunn outlined the necessity for the creation of the first Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree at a historically black college or university (HBCU). His work, funded by the Kellogg Foundation, set forth the major need for a four-year program designed to prepare doctoral-level practitioners to specifically impact urban communities. Morgan State University became the first HBCU to offer a doctorate in public health. The model program was approved by the Maryland Higher Education Commission in December 1998 and admitted its first class of twenty-three doctoral students in August 1999.

The educational forum is free and open to the public. Social workers, public health practitioners, students, human service administrators and health care professionals are especially encouraged to attend. Copies of Dr. Chunn's book will also be available for signing. For more information, call the Morgan State University Public Health Program at 443.885.3238 or 3638.

Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a coeducational institution offering more than 60 academic programs leading to bachelor's degrees as well as programs at the master's and doctoral levels. As Maryland's public urban university, Morgan serves a multi-ethnic and multi-racial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information on Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.