1. Third Annual Summer Research Summit on Health Equity Organized by the Center of Excellence in Health Equity, Training and Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA on June 9, 2020
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Abbhirami Rajagopal, Abiodun Oluyomi, Acara E. Turner, Adedoyin Johnson, Alfred Flores, Alfredo Echeverria, Ali Abbas Asghar-Ali, Alyssa Eason, Amy Orange, Andile Dube, Andres Bryan, Andrew Arvizu, Anil T. Mangla, Anjali Deendyal, Anjali Ramoutar, Anna M. Jilla, Annise Wilson, Antonio Jimenez, Ardawna Jael Green, Avani Patel, Aya Itani, Ayrea Hurley, Bess Biscocho, Beverly I. Anaele, Blessing Felix-Okoroj, Brittany Adams, Brooke Wagen, Camden J. Hallmark, Carole E. Johnson, Charles Park, Chaya Prasad, Chris Lavy, Chris Ulack, Christina Maxey, Christopher Nemeh, Dakota Rodgers, Danielle Gonzales, Danielle Whitman, Darius B. Dawson, David Latini, Debra Canales, Debra Dianne Murray, Deepa Dongarwar, Deepu Karri, Derek L. Lockett, Dhitinut Ratnapradipa, Dr. Emma Santa Maria, Edgardo Ordonez, Elisha Acosta, Elyse Lopez, Emmanuella Oduguwa, Erica Chow, Eunique L. Williams, Farzanna S. Haffizulla, Fernando X. Cuascut, Hamisu M. Salihu, Ibeth Caceres, Ionna D. Athanassaki, Jacob Atkins, Jacquelin Rodriguez, Jairo Barrantes Perez, Jalyce Taylor, Jeffery Joy, Jennifer Chang, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer R. Gaertner-Otto, Jennifer Spinler, Jensine’ Norman, Joel Suarez, Jordan Jones, Joslyn Gober, Jqar Washington, Justin Magrat, Karen Armknecht, Katherine Dowdell, Kathleen McDeavitt, Katie Kirk, Kaylinda Tran, Kaylyn Snook, Kelsey Fitzhugh, Kelsey Jarrett, Kendal D. Hirschi, Kendra Ratnapradipa, Kobby A. Wiafe, Kristen Fisher, Krystal Carter, Laura Rosen, Lauren D. Garner, Lindy Ross, Lyssa Ochoa, Maria I. Castellanos, Maria Vigil, Maricarmen Marroquin, Marina Masciale, Mario Zuniga Palma, Marlene McNeese, Mary Beth Bennett, Matthew Morones, Megan Abadom, Meghna Sebastian, Mia Furgurson, Mia Vento, Michael K. Hole, Michael R. Kauth, Michelle Ludwig, Morgan Castelbuono, Mwamba Mvula, Nadia Sherif, Nancy Trinh, Natalia Rodriguez, Natalie Guerrero, Natasha M. Navejar, Neema Pithia, Nick Christian, Nick Huntington-Klein, Nicole Gras, Nina Truong, Norma Perez, Olusegun Bakare, Paige Hoyer, Patrick Costello, Patrick Hardigan, Paul Nakata, Rachel McCommon, Rachelle Wanser, Ramona Parker, Renee Lastrapes, Ria Brown, Robin P. Goin-Kochel, Russell McIntire, Samantha Janfaza, Samuel E. Willis, Sana Erbati, Sang (Sam) Pak, Sara L. Grisales, Sarah Gustafson, Sean Liu, Sergio M. Navarro, Shelby Johnson, Sherry Pinkstaff, Shetal Amin, Shital M. Patel, Sruthi Thomas, Taelor Farrow, Tara Everett, Terri L. Fletcher, Titilope Fasipe, Toi B. Harris, Torrence Tran, Trung Nguyen, Valencia P. Walker, Vicki Mercado, Victor Cheuy, Victoria Iwinski, Whitney Williams, William Lagor, William Robinson, and Yue Xie
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geography ,Summit ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Community engagement ,business.industry ,Center of excellence ,General Engineering ,Attendance ,Health technology ,Health literacy ,Public relations ,Health equity ,Global health ,Medicine ,Book of Abstracts | Health Equity ,Public aspects of medicine ,RA1-1270 ,business - Abstract
Advancing Health Equity Through Innovations and Technology This year’s summit was unique given the COVID-19 pandemic: a major global outbreak that has imposed severe restrictions in all aspects of our life. At the outset, we were faced with three mutually exclusive options. First option was to cancel the summit in its entirety: this was the easiest and most obvious choice once the COVID-19 pandemic forced a near total lockdown all over the country with unprecedented disruptions of normal daily activities as the disease announced its thunderous touchdown on United States (US) soil. It was also the most-logical response faced with uncertainty regarding summit logistics and expected poor attendance due to the raging pandemic. Second option was to conduct a digital summit restricted to local audiences at Baylor College of Medicine: this option entailed implementing a virtual summit with attendance restricted to participants from our institution only. It sounded like a reasonable choice but that would impede the presence of diversity of topics, perspectives, insights and experiential learning opportunities, which are what render the summit exciting and worth attending. And finally, the last option was to conduct a digital unrestricted summit open to all interested audiences throughout the US. The conduct of a virtual summit open to all participants from around the country was initially considered daunting given the likelihood of amplified technical problems associated with an array of internet access differentials around the country, which would require a strong Information Technology (IT) presence throughout the sessions. Nonetheless, the attractiveness of going national with a virtual summit, despite the pandemic and logistical challenges, slowly gained converts and became the dominant choice. The response and level of participation in this first virtual summit showed an unanticipated surge despite the increase in registration fees to cover IT costs. This year, we had attendees from all regions of the US as well as from the United Kingdom. The range of topics was quite diverse encompassing health disparities in relation to cancers, nutrition, musculo-skeletal disorders, amputation rates, vaccination uptakes and COVID-19 infections. Various solutions were passionately presented to address these disparities including novel health technologies, community engagement and partnerships, improvement in health literacy and alternative therapeutics. There were no hitches despite the complex breakout sessions, and above all, attendees were satisfied and offered outstanding evaluation scores. This was definitely a summit that metamorphosed from pessimism to a triumphant success! Copyright © 2020 Salihu et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in this journal, is properly cited.
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- 2020