Join us for a virtual panel about health disparities in Charlotte

Health influences everything from a person’s ability to work to medical debt, and health inequalities have big consequences in our community on economic mobility and people’s ability to get ahead. Yet the burden of poor health is not evenly spread, because of food deserts, lack of access to insurance, pharmacies and doctors, and the embedded effects of decades of racial segregation and discrimination.

Join us at noon on Aug. 26 for a virtual panel discussion with local experts about how health inequalities factor into our region’s economic mobility, advantaging some and disadvantaging others.

This community conversation is free to attend, and we will take questions from the audience as well. Registration is required.

Click here to register

Meet our panelists

Our panel will include Dr. Kinneil Coltman, Chief Community and Social Impact Officer at Atrium Health. Dr. Coltman leads Atrium’s efforts to improve community well-being, address the social determinants of health and advance health equity.

Dr. Jerome Williams is Novant Health’s Senior Vice President of Community Engagement. A practicing interventional cardiologist, Dr. Williams leads Novant’s efforts to address health disparities in communities across the hospital system’s footprint.

And Dr. Colleen Hammelman, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at UNC Charlotte, studies questions of social justice in urban food systems.

Dr. Byron White, Associate Provost for Urban Research and Community Engagement, will moderate the discussion. With a focus on equity, he and Dr. Hammelman are helping lead a community-driven effort to address food access disparities in West Charlotte.

This is the third of five planned Schul Conversations, to be held in advance of the Urban Institute’s signature annual convening. The previous discussions focused on housing, transportation and economic mobility. Upcoming events include:

• September: Virtual panel on the racial wealth gap & economic mobility
• October: Virtual panel on the role of workforce development
• November 18 Schul Forum: Moving the Needle in Charlotte and beyond.

The Marianne M. & Norman W. Schul Urban Institute Forum Series was established in 2018 to serve as an annual event focused on policy issues affecting the Charlotte region, convening local leaders, national experts and researchers from the institute and other parts of UNC Charlotte. The institute’s first director, Dr. Norm Schul, and his wife, Marianne ‘73, enabled the creation of the series with a generous gift.

This year’s Schul Forum, to be held Nov. 18, will focus on economic mobility, as well as showcasing the research of the institute’s Gambrell Faculty Fellows.