Outlook | Newsletter of the Society of Behavioral Medicine

Ethnic, Minority and Multicultural Health SIG 2016 Update

Jamilia Sly, Ph.D, and Clement Gwede, Ph.D, Ethnic, Minority and Multicultural Health SIG co-chairs

Many exciting things are planned for the Ethnic Minority and Multicultural Health Special Interest Group (EMMH SIG) this year. We have proposed an exciting slate of events that should be of interest to Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) members at varying career levels. We want to acknowledge our outstanding SIG Planning Committee who have dedicated countless hours toward brainstorming robust and timely symposia and pre-conference ideas. With the help of the EMMH SIG planning committee, the SIG will present/co-present four exciting and timely symposia and pre-conference sessions for the 2016 Annual Meeting.

Although public health efforts have focused on reducing health inequities for over 60 years, there is significant lag in reduction of poor outcomes and in many cases, disparate health outcomes have increased or persist for underserved and minority populations. Thus, our SIG has proposed a timely pre-conference course titled, Unchanging Paradigms: The Static Condition of Reducing Health Inequities. In this course, we plan to have lively discussions with leading experts in health policy, health disparities research, and healthcare provision to unravel where research and practice has brought us to date, offer an innovative model to move beyond the current state of health inequity research, and explore unconscious bias.

Two exciting symposia will be presented at the annual meeting. The first symposium is titled, Innovative and Culturally Responsive Interventions to Improve Cancer Survivorship. This symposium aims to provide insight and lessons learned on how to overcome the challenges that arise in developing culturally competent interventions for people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Experts will present empirical evidence and strategies for developing and evaluating culturally responsive interventions for cancer survivors from ethnic minority populations. The second symposium is titled, Faith-Based or Culturally-Tailored Community-Based Programs to Improve Minority Health. The purpose of this symposium is to highlight the methods of tailoring health programs in three different faith-based/community-based minority communities. It will describe generalizable knowledge regarding community-engagement and program development while reflecting on the critical questions emerging from their experiences about the theoretical bases and practice exercises of tailoring health programs.

Research training and mentoring for students and early career members is always a priority for the EMMH SIG, and so this year we are co-presenting with the Cancer SIG the pre-conference course, Let's Talk about Your Career: What You Need to Know about Grants, Mentorship, and Life Balance, with the Cancer SIG. This event will combine the Cancer SIG's highly valued National Institutes of Health career development grant mock review with our lively roundtable discussions. Discussion will focus on identifying and utilizing local and distance mentoring, successful strategies for landing your next job, and optimizing life balance.

Finally, the EMMH SIG will hold its annual breakfast business meeting. We will continue our tradition of presenting abstract awards for outstanding research from students and early career investigators, excellence in mentoring and new awards recognizing extraordinary service to the EMMH SIG. In addition, Dr. Gwede will rotate off as SIG co-chair and the new co-chair will be announced. We hope that SBM members are as excited about these activities as we are and that you will attend as many of our events as you can! See you in Washington, DC!


Winter 2016	Return to Outlook main page »
Ethnic, Minority and Multicultural Health SIG 2016 Update Jamilia Sly, Ph.D, and Clement Gwede, Ph.D, Ethnic, Minority and Multicultural Health SIG co-chairs Many exciting things are planned for the Ethnic Minority and Multicultural Health Special Interest Group (EMMH SIG) this year. We have proposed an exciting slate of events that should be of interest to Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) members at varying career levels. We want to acknowledge our outstanding SIG Planning Committee who have dedicated countless hours toward brainstorming robust and timely symposia and pre-conference ideas. With the help of the EMMH SIG planning committee, the SIG will present/co-present four exciting and timely symposia and pre-conference sessions for the 2016 Annual Meeting. Although public health efforts have focused on reducing health inequities for over 60 years, there is significant lag in reduction of poor outcomes and in many cases, disparate health outcomes have increased or persist for underserved and minority populations. Thus, our SIG has proposed a timely pre-conference course titled, Unchanging Paradigms: The Static Condition of Reducing Health Inequities. In this course, we plan to have lively discussions with leading experts in health policy, health disparities research, and healthcare provision to unravel where research and practice has brought us to date, offer an innovative model to move beyond the current state of health inequity research, and explore unconscious bias. Two exciting symposia will be presented at the annual meeting. The first symposium is titled, Innovative and Culturally Responsive Interventions to Improve Cancer Survivorship. This symposium aims to provide insight and lessons learned on how to overcome the challenges that arise in developing culturally competent interventions for people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Experts will present empirical evidence and strategies for developing and evaluating culturally responsive interventions for cancer survivors from ethnic minority populations. The second symposium is titled, Faith-Based or Culturally-Tailored Community-Based Programs to Improve Minority Health. The purpose of this symposium is to highlight the methods of tailoring health programs in three different faith-based/community-based minority communities. It will describe generalizable knowledge regarding community-engagement and program development while reflecting on the critical questions emerging from their experiences about the theoretical bases and practice exercises of tailoring health programs. Research training and mentoring for students and early career members is always a priority for the EMMH SIG, and so this year we are co-presenting with the Cancer SIG the pre-conference course, Let's Talk about Your Career: What You Need to Know about Grants, Mentorship, and Life Balance, with the Cancer SIG. This event will combine the Cancer SIG's highly valued National Institutes of Health career development grant mock review with our lively roundtable discussions. Discussion will focus on identifying and utilizing local and distance mentoring, successful strategies for landing your next job, and optimizing life balance. Finally, the EMMH SIG will hold its annual breakfast business meeting. We will continue our tradition of presenting abstract awards for outstanding research from students and early career investigators, excellence in mentoring and new awards recognizing extraordinary service to the EMMH SIG. In addition, Dr. Gwede will rotate off as SIG co-chair and the new co-chair will be announced. We hope that SBM members are as excited about these activities as we are and that you will attend as many of our events as you can! See you in Washington, DC!