Health care leaders and providers will gather April 17-18 at Oakland University (OU) to discuss the importance of addressing the “upstream” social determinants of health in promoting better “downstream” care as part of the 2018 Healthology Symposium series presented by the OU School of Health Sciences and MedNetOne Health Solutions.
Healthology Symposium
“This symposium is a call for public awareness and professional action and is an outstanding way to bring together collaborators, in purpose for health,” said Kevin Ball, Ph.D., dean of the School of Health Sciences. “We are pleased to partner with MedNetOne Health Solutions to bring the issue of social determinants of health to the forefront through this event.”
According to Ball, the 2018 Healthology Symposium “where science, practice and social interests meet” provides a culminating focus for faculty, students and community partners to celebrate impactful research and scholarship that affect health outcomes. The event’s theme, “Better Upstream Health, Better Downstream Care,” reflects the needs to explore social determinants of health, the conditions in which people are born, grow, live work and age.
These include factors such as:
- Access to health care
- Education opportunities
- Employment opportunities
- Physical environment
- Socioeconomic conditions
- Social support networks
The event will also feature a public forum on Tuesday, April 17 and breakout sessions on Wednesday, April 18.
The public forum at 6:30 p.m. in the Banquet Room at the Oakland Center is free and open to the public. Prominent TedTalk speaker, Rishi Manchanda, M.D., MPH, an “upstreamist” and president and founder of HealthBegins, a social enterprise that provides training, clinic redesign and technology to transform healthcare and the social determinants of health, will lead it.
Dr. Manchanda is a dual board-certified internist and pediatrician, a board member of the National Physicians Alliance, and a fellow in the California Health Care Foundation’s Healthcare Leadership Program. He is also the lead physician for homeless primary care at the VA in Los Angeles, where he has built clinics for high-utilizer homeless veterans with complex chronic disease.
In addition, Dr. Manchanda was the first director of social medicine and health equity at a large community health center network in south Los Angeles. In 2008, he started RxDemocracy, a nonpartisan coalition that has registered over 30,000 voters in doctors’ offices and hospitals nationwide. In his 2013 book, “The Upstream Doctors,” introduces a new model of the healthcare workforce that includes clinical “upstreamists” who address social determinants of health.
The Healthology Symposium will continue at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18 in Room 1050 of the Human Health Building with a call for public awareness, breakout sessions for developing professional action, and closing remarks from Paul Grundy, M.D., MPH, FACOEM, FACPM.
A recipient of the prestigious Barbara Starfield Primary Care Leadership Award in 2016 and the 2012 National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Quality Award, Dr. Grundy is IBM’s global director of Healthcare Transformation. In this role, he develops and executes strategies that support IBM’s healthcare-industry transformation initiatives.
Dr. Grundy is also the founding president of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative and is an adjunct professor with the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of Utah, School of Medicine. An active social entrepreneur and speaker on global healthcare transformation, Dr. Grundy’s work has been reported widely in the New York Times, BusinessWeek, Forbes, the Economist, the Huffington Post, New England Journal of Medicine and newspapers, radio and television around the country.
“Better Upstream Health, Better Downstream Care is an important event — but not only for those directly involved with providing healthcare and administering healthcare programs or organizations,” said Ewa Matuszeweski, CEO of MedNetOne Health Solutions, a health care management organization based in Rochester, Michigan.
“It’s planned as a community event to engage the healthcare community, legislators, local and state leaders, business decision makers and concerned citizens who want to be part of the solution for holistic healthcare that addresses the role that social determinants of health play in overall health and wellness,” Matuszeweski said.
To register for a breakout session, or for more information about the symposium, visit www.oakland.edu/shs/healthology.
About Oakland University’s School of Health Sciences
Oakland University’s School of Health Sciences provides an exceptional environment of collaborative, academic and clinical learning that helps transform students into leaders influencing the health needs of our communities in diverse wellness, safety and health-related practices. The School of Health Sciences is passionate about providing students with the best science-based health education, high-quality academic preparation, interdisciplinary teaching and excellence in instruction in the classroom and clinical library.
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