Health Sciences MLK Keynote Lecture
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Health Equity Featuring Keynote Speaker Dr. David R. Williams
January 20, 2025 (2-5 PM EST)
Dr. David R. Williams
Florence and Laura Norman Professor of Public Health
Professor of African and African American Studies and Sociology
Harvard University
Kahn Auditorium
Biomedical Science Research Building
109 Zina Pitcher Pl,
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Also available through live stream.
Michigan Medicine and the University of Michigan’s seven health science schools and colleges invite you to participate in the 35th Annual Health Science MLK Lecture, an event dedicated to advancing the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through interdisciplinary approaches to health equity.
This year’s program, hosted by the U-M Medical School under the leadership of Dean Dr. Marschall Runge and Michigan Medicine will feature keynote speaker Dr. David R. Williams, PhD, a renowned expert in public health, African and African American studies, and sociology. Dr. Williams is widely recognized for his groundbreaking research on social influences on health and equity, including the development of the Everyday Discrimination Scale.
The event will take place on Monday, January 20, 2025, from 2:00-5:00 PM at the Kahn Auditorium in the Biomedical Science Research Building (109 Zina Pitcher Pl, Ann Arbor, MI 48109). A livestream option will also be available for those who prefer to attend virtually.
2:00–2:15 PM: Welcome and Opening Remarks
2:15–3:00 PM: Keynote Address by David R. Williams, PhD
3:00–3:45 PM: Panel Discussion on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Achieving Health Equity, moderated by David J. Brown, MD, Associate Vice President and Associate Dean for Health Equity and Inclusion at Michigan Medicine. Panelists include:
David R. Williams, PhD, Harvard University
Alfreda Rooks, MPH, Director of Community Health Services, Michigan Medicine
Celeste M. Watkins-Hayes, PhD, Dean, U-M School of Public Policy
F. DuBois Bowman, PhD, Dean, U-M School of Public Health
Olayinka Shiyanbola, PhD, Charles R. Walgreen Jr. Professor of Pharmacy, U-M College of Pharmacy
3:45–5:00 PM: Event Reception
This annual event is more than just a lecture—it’s a platform for exploring how health science disciplines can contribute to the ongoing fight for equity and justice, inspired by Dr. King’s enduring legacy.
David R. Williams is a St Lucian and American social scientist who has specialized in the study of social influences on health. His research has enhanced our understanding of the complex ways in which race, socioeconomic status, racism, stress, health behaviors and religious involvement can affect physical and mental health. He has been invited to keynote scientific conferences in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, South America and across the United States.
Currently, he is the Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies and of Sociology at Harvard University. His first 6 years as a faculty member were at Yale University where he held appointments in both Sociology and Public Health. The next 14 years were at the University of Michigan where he was the Harold Cruse Collegiate Professor of Sociology, a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute of Social Research and a Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health.
Dr. Williams is the author of more than 500 scholarly papers in scientific journals and edited collections and his research has appeared in leading journals in sociology, psychology, medicine, public health and epidemiology. The Everyday Discrimination scale that he developed is currently the most widely used measure to assess perceived discrimination in health studies. He has served on the editorial board of 16 scientific journals and as a reviewer for over 70 journals. According to ISI Essential Science Indicators, he was one of the Top 10 Most Cited Researchers in the Social Sciences during the decade 1995 to 2005. The Journal of Black Issues in Higher Education ranked him as the Most Cited Black Scholar in the Social Sciences in 2008. And Thomson Reuters ranked him, in 2014, as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds based on his scientific articles published between 2002 and 2012. In 2023, ScholarGPS ranked him number one in citations in African and African American Studies worldwide.
With funding from the National Institutes of Health and the sponsorship of the World Health Organization, Dr. Williams directed the South African Stress and Health Study, the first nationally representative study of the prevalence and correlates of psychiatric disorders in sub-Sahara Africa. This study assessed the effects of HIV/AIDS, exposure to racial discrimination and torture during apartheid, on the health of the South African population. He was also a key member of the team that conducted the National Study of American Life, the largest study of mental health disorders in the African American population in the U.S. and the first health study to include a large national sample of Blacks of Caribbean ancestry. He also served as the director of the Lung Cancer Disparities Center at Harvard, a center for Population Health and Health Disparities funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Williams received his elementary and high school education in Castries, St Lucia. After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of the Southern Caribbean in Trinidad and Tobago, he earned master’s degrees in divinity and public health, at Andrews University and Loma Linda University, respectively. He next earned a master’s and PhD degree in sociology from the University of Michigan.