The Georgia State School of Public Health’s Grand Rounds Lecture Series will return this fall and feature alumna Na'Taki Osborne Jelks and Dr. Ruth Shim as its August and October speakers.
“We are excited to continue the Grand Rounds series for its second year,” said Jalayne Arias, Associate Professor in the School of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences. “The Grand Rounds Committee is thrilled by the caliber of speakers who have agreed to join us at the School of Public Health, meet with faculty and connect with the School of Public Health students.”
Osborne Jelks, who earned her Ph.D. from the GSU SPH, is a nationally recognized leader in engaging urban communities and youth of color in environmental stewardship. Jelks is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental and Health Sciences Program at Spelman College. She will deliver the August Grand Rounds on August 24 from noon – 1 p.m. in the Student Center Speaker’s Auditorium. Her talk is titled “Taking the Science to the Streets: Participatory Research Approaches to Advance Environmental Justice and Health Equity.”
Her research investigates urban environmental health disparities; the role that place, race and social factors play in influencing health; cumulative environmental risks and health; the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations and the connection between urban watersheds, pollution, the built environment and health. In 2001, she co-founded the Earth Tomorrow® Program, the National Wildlife Federation’s multi-cultural youth environmental education and leadership development program.
Dr. Ruth Shim is the Luke and Grace Kim Professor in Cultural Psychiatry and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, Davis. She also serves as Associate Dean of Diverse and Inclusive Education at the UC Davis School of Medicine. Her research focuses on mental health disparities and inequities, and she provides clinical psychiatric care in the UC Davis Early Diagnosis and Preventative Treatment Clinic. Shim will deliver the October Grand Rounds on October 24 from noon – 1 p.m. in the Student Center Speaker’s Auditorium.
Grand Rounds Lectures are free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Sponsored by the School of Public Health and organized by a committee led by Jalayne Arias, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, the Grand Rounds Lecture Series brings nationally recognized thought leaders to the Georgia State University School of Public Health for dialogues that contribute to the school’s mission of advancing health equity and solving contemporary and emerging health issues. To register and learn more, visit publichealth.gsu.edu/grandrounds/.
In addition to Arias, members of the Grand Rounds Committee are:
- Rachel Carr, MPH student
- Marcus Cooper, Facilities and Events Specialist
- Sam Fahmy, Director of Communications
- Ruschelle Leone, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences
- Kevin Maloney, Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health Sciences
- Lucy Popova, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences
- Claire Spears, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences
- Christine Stauber, Associate Professor, Department of Population Health Sciences
- Daniel Whitaker, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, and Associate Dean for Research