The Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Center for Health Equity and Community Knowledge in Urban Populations, with the Karmanos Cancer Institute, will present the second of its Strengthening Community-Academic Research Relationships symposium series, this one on Black Health and Racial Equity, this month.

The symposium will be held virtually Oct. 25, 26 and 27, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

The program, planned by a team of local community stakeholders and WSU faculty and staff, brings together academic and community experts to share space, engage in dialogue, and set an agenda and next steps that will ultimately drive efforts in black health and racial equity.

The symposium will consist of presentations by researchers and community leaders, followed by discussion-focused breakout rooms. The breakout rooms will develop a call to action that will be reported back to the larger group to set an agenda that helps move work forward. The planning committee created an agenda addressing three overarching topics contributing to Black and racial health inequities:

Oct. 25: Structural Racism and Implicit Bias on Health Outcomes, featuring Toria Turner of the Detroit Health Department; Henry Cade,  Cardiovascular Health Action Council member; Ijeoma Opara, M.D., WSU assistant professor of Internal Medicine and of Pediatrics; Vicki Sapp, Ph.D., chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion officer at the State University of New York at Fredonia; and Rhonda Dailey, M.D., WSU assistant professor of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences.

Oct. 26: Food Access, featuring Randall Mosley, director of the Perry Outreach Center; Winona Bynum of the Detroit Food Policy Council; and Alex Hill, adjunct professor of the WSU Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Oct. 27: The Digital Divide, featuring Carrie Leach, Ph.D., assistant professor of the WSU Institute of Gerontology; and Uri Heru House of Motown Wireless.

Register for the symposium here.