History of the Symposium:
This Symposium is an annual meeting that connects healthcare professionals, population health experts and community advocates dedicated to advancing health equity. The presentations and poster sessions highlight research addressing persistent gender, racial, and other disparities. The Symposium grew out of the pioneering vision of Dr. Gloria Sarto and the late Dr. Gloria Johnson-Powell.
Dr. Gloria Johnson-Powell (1936-2017), the first African American female professor at Harvard, joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty in 2001 as Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Associate Dean for Cultural Diversity, and Director of the Center for Cultural Diversity and Health Care. Dr. Johnson-Powell has had remarkable influence in highlighting the importance of social equality as it impacts health equality. She has labored all her life to seek equality for all, through her research, writings, and work within communities.
In 2003, Dr. Johnson-Powell and Dr. Sarto received NIH funding to establish a comprehensive center to investigate the role of biological and social factors on disparate health outcomes, primarily among minority ethnic and racial populations. The first Symposium was held in 2005.
Dr. Gloria Sarto has championed the health of women in innumerable ways throughout her professional career. As a physician, she personally treated many women and delivered their babies; as a department chair, she taught and mentored many students, residents, and young faculty; and as a national voice for women’s health, she continues to influence public policy, educational curricula, and national research initiatives.
Past Symposium Keynote Speakers:
- 2022: Vanessa Northington Gamble, MD, PhD (video)
- 2021: Elizabeth Howell, MD (video)
- 2020: Erica Marsh, MD (video)
- 2019: Tiffany Green, PhD (video)
- 2018: Sheri Johnson, PhD
- 2017: Haywood Brown, MD (video)
- 2016: Melissa Gilliam MD, MPH (video)
- 2015: Florence Haseltine, MD, PhD
- 2014: David Grimes, MD, FACOG, FACPM (video)
- 2013: Vivian Pinn, MD (video)
