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Key Speakers
SCC/MLA Annual Meeting
October 22-26, 2005
Little Rock , AR
Public Health Challenges Overview 3:15 pm - 4:45 pm Sunday, October 23
Joseph W. Thompson, M.D., M.P.H, is an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and practices as a general pediatrician and preventive medicine specialist. |
As the Director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI), Dr. Thompson is responsible for developing health policy, research activities and collaborative programs that promote better health and healthcare in Arkansas. He works closely with the Governor’s office and the Arkansas Legislature as well as with public and private organizations to support relevant public health policy topics such as access to quality care. Through ACHI, Dr. Thompson has led efforts in planning and implementing healthcare financing reform, tobacco- and obesity-related health promotion and disease prevention programs. Most recently, Dr. Thompson was nominated by Governor Mike Huckabee and confirmed by the Arkansas Department of Health’s Board of Directors to serve as Arkansas’s first Chief Health Officer. In this position, Dr. Thompson will be responsible for identifying strategies and shaping policies to improve the health of Arkansans. Dr. Thompson has served as the Principal Investigator for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Arkansas State Planning Grant and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) State Coverage Initiatives Demonstration Grant Programs. He currently serves on three Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Advisory Committees, including Health Care Financing and Organization, the State Coverage Initiative, and the National Steering Committee for Leadership Training for the Clinical Scholars Program. He is President of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and author of numerous articles and publications that reflect his research interests in the areas of healthcare – access, quality, and disparities in receipt of care, particularly as they pertain to vulnerable populations. Dr. Thompson is an active clinician at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Pediatric Clinic. He earned a Medical Degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and a Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was named a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and was the first Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Child and Adolescent Health Scholar. |
Role of Medical Librarians in Improving Healthcare 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm Monday, October 24
Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former US Surgeon General and Professor Emeritus, University of Arkansas college of Medicine, Little Rock AR |
Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former US Surgeon General and Professor Emeritus, University of Arkansas college of Medicine, Little Rock AR Joycelyn Elders was nominated surgeon general of the US Public Health Service by President Bill Clinton in July 1993. She served in this post until January 1995, after which time she went to work at the University of Arkansas Children's Hospital until her retirement in June 1998. She is now a professor emeritus of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine. At fifteen, she received a scholarship from the United Methodist Church to attend Philander Smith College in Little Rock, AR. Upon graduation at eighteen, she entered the US Army as a first lieutenant and received training as a physical therapist. Elders attended the University of Arkansas Medical School (UAMS) on the G.I. Bill. After graduation in 1960, she was an intern at the University of Minnesota Hospital–Minneapolis and did a pediatric residency and an endocrinology fellowship at the University of Arkansas Medical Center–Little Rock. She ascended the academic ladder to full professorship after her fellowship and board certification in 1976. She also holds a master of science degree in biochemistry. Elders joined the faculty at UAMS as a professor of pediatrics and received board certification as a pediatric endocrinologist in 1978. Based on her studies of growth in children and the treatment of hormone-related illnesses, she has written many articles for medical research publications. She was appointed director of the Arkansas Department of Health in October of 1987. While serving as director, she was elected president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers. |
The Librarian's Role in Meeting in Public Health Challenges 9:00 am - 10:00 am Tuesday, October 25
MARJORIE A. CAHN, Head of the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology, National Library of Medicine, cahn@nlm.nih.gov |
Marj Cahn joined the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in July 1991 as the first Head of the Office of Health Services Research Information, which in June 1993 was expanded to the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR). Working in collaboration with other NLM components, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the health services research community, NICHSR functions as an information center on health services research.
Since 1999, Marj also has served as the NLM Coordinator for the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce, a collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations and health sciences libraries. The Partners’ mission is to help the public health workforce find and use information effectively to improve and protect the public's health. From 1981 91, Marj was a health services research consultant and employee at The Urban Institute, Washington DC. From 1973 1987, she worked in private industry on health services research grant and contract studies for a variety of agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services. Marj is a member of the American Public Health Association and the Medical Library Association. |
