Keynote Address of URI’s 12th Annual Diversity Week

The Multicultural Center and Lifespan invite you to attend the Keynote Address of URI’s 12th Annual Diversity Week
Presented by

Dr. Tyrone B. Hayes
Professor, Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley




From ‘Silent Spring’ to Silent Night: The Silent Attack of Pesticides on the Human Immune System.

Thursday, September 25, 2008
7:30pm
Memorial Union Ballroom

When Syngenta, the world’s largest multinational chemical corporation commissioned Tyrone B. Hayes and his lab to conduct research on the effects of environmental exposure to atrazine, the nation’s most widely used pesticide and the firm’s top selling product in 1997, it set the stage for a classic David and Goliath struggle, pitting the young professor and his allies in the academic world and non-profit worlds against the giant corporation and its researchers. Hayes holds a B.S degree in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University in 1989, and a Ph.D. degree in integrative biology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993. Hired in 1995, he attained tenure at UC Berkeley in 1997, rising to full professor in 2002 at age 36.

For more information, please contact the MCC at 874-2851 or visit our website at www.uri.edu/mcc

Help make HIV testing part of the law! - TOMORROW 5/7/08

Hey Everyone,

We desperately need help for advocating for HIV legal reform. There is a fantastic bill which would 1) make all HIV testing opt out in Rhode Island and 2) mandate newborn testing for HIV, which has been shown to dramatically reduce transmission of the virus to kids. I would like to lead a group of interested volunteers to come to the state house and testify. Feel free to add testimony of your own, or watch the debate unfold. I'll meet folks before hand to talk.

We need to be there at 5pm on the Senate side. This means about a half hour for orientation. So we don't have to stand, let's plan on leaving the hospital at 4pm. I can give a few rides, but if there's folks with cars who know how to get there, all the better.

If you want to read the text of the bill before hand (not mandatory, but a good idea): http://www.rilin.state.ri.us//BillText08/SenateText08/S2960.pdf

Please page me with questions. I hope lots can come! Wear a white coat and look important and determined!!!

Brian

Brian Alverson, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Brown Medical School
Head, Section of Pediatric Hospitalists
Hasbro Children's Hospital
phone: (401) 444-7396
fax: (401) 444-2797

RIte Care Op-ed in the Providence Journal

Hi all,

Today's ProJo features an op-ed written by second-year med students about the importance of RIte Care. Congrats to Juan Vasquez, Margret Chang, Sharon Davis, and Andrea Dean for their good work!

Click on the link below for the article:

http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/CT_nuvaz17_04-17-08_UO9O8IE_v13.39d5bd7.html

White Coats for Healthy Votes--Rally at the State House (April 9)

WHITE COATS FOR HEALTHY VOTES!

Are you a clinician who supports RIte Care?

Join nurses and doctors from around the state for a public event and lobby day to celebrate the positive impact RIte Care has on the well-being of our state’s children and families and to encourage members of the General Assembly to vote AGAINST proposed cuts to RIte Care.

When: Wed, April 9, 2008 3:15 PM
Where: State House, Providence

Dress Code: White lab coats and/or scrubs, you can even wear your stethoscope! Don’t be shy; we want your elected officials to know that you are a medical professional.

We will provide you with talking points and hand outs for your elected officials – all you need to do is come prepared to explain the importance of RIte Care to your patients.

Please forward this message to your friends, family and coworkers. We need as many people involved as possible to make sure RIte Care is protected. If you cannot make it to the State House on April 9 please log on to www.ritecareworks.org and sign up to send an email message or make a call to your elected officials - let them know that you do not support the proposed cuts to RIte Care!

**********
About RIte Care – RIte Care is Rhode Island’s Medicaid managed care program for children and families with low-income. It has proven to be one of the most successful public health insurance programs in America, allowing Rhode Island to have the best timely prenatal care for pregnant women in the country, the lowest child death rate and one of the ten best rates of children’s health insurance coverage. More than 110,000 people currently participate in the program, but current proposals would deny up to 15,000 from participating.

RIte Care Works Coalition members include: American Cancer Society – New England Division, Bayside Family Healthcare, Blackstone Valley Community Healthcare, Chad Brown Health Center, East Bay Community Action Program, Family Health Services, Family Voices at RIPIN, Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, Northwest Health Center, Parent Support Network of Rhode Island, The Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College, The Providence Community Health Centers, Rhode Island Academy of Family Physicians, Rhode Island Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Rhode Island Health Center Association, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, The Rhode Island Medical Society, Rhode Island Parent Information Network, Thundermist Health Center, Tri-Town Health Center, Wood River Health Services and Woonsocket Even Start.

Tommy Thompson comes to Brown

Hi everyone,

I think an email went out to the Brown Med community about Tommy Thompson's upcoming lecture at Brown. He is the former Secretary of Health and Human Services (from 2001-2005), and he will be speaking about the uninsured and their impact on population health.

There's been a lot of activity here around issues of health insurance, so I figured folks might be interested in hearing what Thompson had to say.

Here are the details:

Where: Pembroke Campus, Andrews Dining Hall
When: Tuesday, April 8 at 4pm

See the below link for more info:

http://med.brown.edu/news/barnes

Cheers,

Margret

Save RIte Care: Come Lobby at the State House this Wednesday!

Hey everyone,

Welcome back from spring break. If you have been reading the newspaper or watching the news, then you know that Rhode Island is at a major crossroad. We have a large deficit, and the governor has proposed major cuts to RIte Care--the insurance program that covers low-income families.

If the supplemental budget, which is up for vote sometime in the next month, passes, then thousands of kids in RI will lose their health insurance. A few of us second years have been lobbying state legislators over the past few months, but we need more help (especially since we will have less time now with the boards and all). It would also be awesome if some people were able to take on the task of coordinating our collaboration with Ocean State Action, the organization that helps us lobby.

So please, please come out and lobbying for RIte care this Wednesday, April 2nd. We will be meeting in the BMC at 3:00 pm and carpooling to the State House where we will be speaking with legislators and hopefully changing their mind. This is a great opportunity to get involved with advocacy at a statewide level and keep kids insured and healthy.

If you have never lobbied before, don’t worry. We usually approach the representatives in groups of two, and we will have some information and pointers before we start. Please email juan_vasquez@brown.edu if you plan to join us.


-Juan and Margret

Contraceptive Access in RI

Hi everyone,

There's a House Health, Education & Welfare committee hearing at the state house scheduled for Wednesday, March 26th at the State house. In submission is Bill H7576, which will bring reprimand to pharmacies that do not fill prescriptions for contraceptives in a timely manner or follow rapid protocol for their order. The bill will also encompass over-the-counter access to Emergency Contraception, stating that pharmacies not carrying the product must (1) ensure expedited order or (2) provide appropriate referral. Denial of care is not an option.

How you can help? If any of you or your friends have ever had trouble in RI (or elsewhere) getting contraception or EC filled at a pharmacy and would be willing to testify about it, please contact me. I will be part of the testifying panel on the 26th; the house needs to see medical student support on this bill, as it will affect the implementation ofour clinical advice by patients in the future.

Please let me know of your interest by e-mailing me at brian_nguyen@brown.edu

Thanks for your consideration.

~Brian Nguyen