OUTREACH

Reflection in Action Steps Up on Stage

On April 15, students, parents, teachers, artists, and health leaders came together to celebrate the sixth annual Reflection in Action program, sponsored by the HMS Office for Diversity and Community Partnership. The program invites sixth-, seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-graders from Boston and Cambridge to submit a visual, written, or performance piece responding to health topics prevalent in urban communities. This year, the themes included heart, lung, and blood disease; sleeping disorders; oral health; and urban health disparities. At the event, the winners display or perform their projects.

Jeff Thiebauth

Nearly 300 entries from 371 students were submitted to the 2008 contest. Above, students from the Jackson/Mann K–8 School in Allston, also known as the Young Fly Steppers, perform their winning dance routine.

The second annual Ruth M. Batson Social Justice Award was also presented at the event. John Auerbach, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, received the honor partly for work in his former position as executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, where he implemented initiatives on public health issues such as tobacco control, emergency preparedness, and health disparities.

Shown above are (left to right) Claude-Alix Jacob, chief public health officer for the City of Cambridge and director of the Cambridge Public Health Department; Nancy Oriol, HMS dean for students; Susan Batson, first recipient of the Social Justice Award; Auerbach; Joan Reede, HMS dean for diversity and community partnership; and Sheila Nutt, director of educational outreach programs in the Office for Diversity and Community Partnership.

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