Events Calendar

Black Health Matters Conference



Feb 18

DEI Event

Black Health Matters Conference

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Harvard's Sixth Annual Black Health Matters Conference
The conference theme is “Decolonizing Health: Recentering Wellness and Community Empowerment.” 

Saturday-Sunday, February 18-19th, 2023 | 9:00 AM
Location: 52 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA 02138

For more information, please visit the Black Health Matters Conference.
Click Here to purchase tickets.

This year, the conference will explore topics in Black health and wellness through the lens of community-based programs and healing traditions. Participants will be able to engage in discussions around food as medicine, herbal healing remedies, music therapy, community based models for mental health care, among a host of other holistic treatment modalities. The goal of this year’s conference is to reframe the conversation on what it means to be healthy in our society and expand our view of medicine and health beyond the clinical care setting.

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Thea James - Saturday, February 18th
Dr. Thea James is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Boston Medical Center, president of the Boston Medical and Dental Staff, Vice President of Mission, and Associate Chief Medical Officer. She is also the Director of the Boston Medical Center site of the Massachusetts Violence Intervention Advocacy Program.  Her diverse areas of interest include African American culture, LGBT, and women in medicine. Dr. James’ passion is in Public Health both domestically and globally. She is a Supervising Medical Officer on the Boston Disaster Medical Assistance Team (MA-1 DMAT) under the Department of Health and Human Services. She has deployed to post 9/11 in NYC, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, Bam, Iran, after the 2003 earthquake, and Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, after the earthquake of 2010. Dr. James traveled to Haiti with MA-1 DMAT one day after the 2010 earthquake.

Dr. Bennet Omalu - Sunday, February 19th
Dr. Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu is a Nigerian and American physician, forensic pathologist, and neuropathologist who was the first to discover and publish findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American football players while working at the Allegheny County coroner's office in Pittsburgh. With the 2015 movie Concussion featuring Will Smith being released that put Dr. Omalu’s work and research out to the world,  increased pressure was placed on the NFL, who until that point had only loosely admitted the possibility of a link between the sport and long-term neurological effects in 2007. In 2016, they were finally forced to acknowledge the reality of CTE. That same year, the American Medical Association awarded Dr. Omalu their highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.  

Feb 18
DEI Event

Black Health Matters Conference

Apple Calendar Google Calendar Outlook Calendar Yahoo Calendar

Harvard's Sixth Annual Black Health Matters Conference
The conference theme is “Decolonizing Health: Recentering Wellness and Community Empowerment.” 

Saturday-Sunday, February 18-19th, 2023 | 9:00 AM
Location: 52 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA 02138

For more information, please visit the Black Health Matters Conference.
Click Here to purchase tickets.

This year, the conference will explore topics in Black health and wellness through the lens of community-based programs and healing traditions. Participants will be able to engage in discussions around food as medicine, herbal healing remedies, music therapy, community based models for mental health care, among a host of other holistic treatment modalities. The goal of this year’s conference is to reframe the conversation on what it means to be healthy in our society and expand our view of medicine and health beyond the clinical care setting.

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Thea James - Saturday, February 18th
Dr. Thea James is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Boston Medical Center, president of the Boston Medical and Dental Staff, Vice President of Mission, and Associate Chief Medical Officer. She is also the Director of the Boston Medical Center site of the Massachusetts Violence Intervention Advocacy Program.  Her diverse areas of interest include African American culture, LGBT, and women in medicine. Dr. James’ passion is in Public Health both domestically and globally. She is a Supervising Medical Officer on the Boston Disaster Medical Assistance Team (MA-1 DMAT) under the Department of Health and Human Services. She has deployed to post 9/11 in NYC, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, Bam, Iran, after the 2003 earthquake, and Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, after the earthquake of 2010. Dr. James traveled to Haiti with MA-1 DMAT one day after the 2010 earthquake.

Dr. Bennet Omalu - Sunday, February 19th
Dr. Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu is a Nigerian and American physician, forensic pathologist, and neuropathologist who was the first to discover and publish findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American football players while working at the Allegheny County coroner's office in Pittsburgh. With the 2015 movie Concussion featuring Will Smith being released that put Dr. Omalu’s work and research out to the world,  increased pressure was placed on the NFL, who until that point had only loosely admitted the possibility of a link between the sport and long-term neurological effects in 2007. In 2016, they were finally forced to acknowledge the reality of CTE. That same year, the American Medical Association awarded Dr. Omalu their highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.