"The Role of Health Professionals in the Context of Healthcare Reform" is the topic for the 2009 Martin Barr Lecture, Sept. 24. Guest speaker is Herbert C. Smitherman, Jr., MD, MPH, assistant dean of community and urban health, Wayne State University School of Medicine.

The program will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the WSU Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, 259 Mack Ave. (at John R), Detroit. A reception will follow the lecture. Parking is available in the WSU parking deck on John R.

The lecture is free. The reception costs $15 for WSU alumni; $18 for guests; and $7 for students. For additional information, call (313) 577-0300 or RSVP at www.specialevents.wayne.edu/martinbarr.

Smitherman is an assistant professor of internal medicine and the Karmanos Cancer Institute. He also is president and CEO of Health Centers Detroit Foundation, a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike in the city of Detroit. Smitherman's research and expertise focus primarily on creating sustainable systems of care for urban communities, for which he has received more than $10 million in grant funding to study. Smitherman has spent the past 21 years working with diverse communities in Detroit to develop urban-based, primary-care delivery systems that integrate the health, social goals and concerns of the community. He cowrote Taking Care of the Uninsured: A Path to Reform, which recently was published.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, a founding college of Wayne State University, is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society through the preparation of highly skilled health care practitioners, and through research to improve health care practices and treatment from the urban to global levels.

Wayne State University is a world class institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 31,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.