Health Care Disparities to Be Discussed Sept. 19 at Pitt’s Center on Race and Social Problems

Jeannette South-Paul

The University of Pittsburgh Center on Race and Social Problems (CRSP) kicks off its Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC Fall 2011 Speaker Series Sept. 19 with a noon lecture by Jeannette South-Paul, Andrew W. Mathieson Professor and chair of Pitt’s Department of Family Medicine.

South-Paul, a widely recognized speaker and author on the impact of race, ethnicity, and culture on health, will deliver a lecture titled “Disparities in Healthcare for Minorities: Institutional or Personal?”

South-Paul’s talk will take place in the School of Social Work Conference Center on the 20th floor of the Cathedral of Learning. It is free and open to the public, and registration is not required; lunch will be provided. For more information, call 412-624-7382.

South-Paul, the first woman to serve as the permanent chair of a Pitt School of Medicine department, is one of a small number of African American chairs at medical schools nationwide.

She has written and published numerous articles on infant nutrition; treatment strategies for osteoporosis; the biological, social, and behavioral factors associated with premenstrual syndrome; exercise during pregnancy; and exercise-dependent physiologic function in obesity. In 2005, South-Paul was honored in a special National Library of Medicine traveling exhibition, “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians,” which traveled to 61 libraries across the United States.

South-Paul has, beyond her family medicine research focus, an interest in sociocultural issues in health care and health care in special populations, as well as cultural diversity and academic medicine and the development of faculty from underrepresented populations.

Prior to assuming her position at Pitt, South-Paul served for 22 years as a physician in the U.S. Army. She also served as chair of the Department of Family Medicine in the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Md. She is a former chair of the minority affairs section of the Association of American Medical Colleges. South-Paul is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Pitt’s School of Medicine.

CRSP’s annual Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC Fall Speaker Series provides an opportunity for faculty, students, and members of the community to engage in race-related discussions of mutual interest. Three more lectures are scheduled through early December.