The Jackson Heart Study is hosting its 15th Annual Celebration of Life on Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon.
The program is an annual event “to celebrate the life and legacies of the African-American family in addition to highlighting the importance
of the Jackson Heart Study,” said Dr. Donna Antoine-LaVigne, principal investigator of the Community Outreach Center, Jackson Heart Study/Jackson State University.
The free event open to the public at 350 West Woodrow Wilson Ave. coincides with Black History Month and National Heart Month, she said.
The theme is: “What’s Going on with my Data? A Conversation with Participants and Community.”
The event features nationally and internationally known speakers with information relevant to African-American health, health-related resource information and health screenings (glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure).
Guest panelists include: Dr. Reuben Warren, executive director, National Center for Bioethics in research and Health Care, Tuskegee University; Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble, university professor of Medical Humanities and professor of Health Policy and American Studies, George Washington University; and Dr. Anne R. Simpson, associate vice chancellor for African-American Health and professor of Medicine/Geriatrics and Rust Professor of Ethics, University of New Mexico.
The Jackson Heart Study is the largest single-site, prospective, epidemiologic investigation of cardiovascular disease among African Americans ever undertaken.
It exemplifies a unique collaborative model among three institutional partners (Jackson State University, University of Mississippi Medical Center, and Tougaloo College), the Jackson community and the National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to discover and test best practices for eliminating health disparities.
The Jackson State University School of Health Sciences, College of Public Service, is located at the Medical Mall, headed by Dr. Ricardo A. Brown, dean.
For more information, contact Darcel T. Odom, 601-979-8709, or Marty Fortenberry, 601-979-8736.