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Emerging Scholars Interdisciplinary Network holds summer institute
Dr. Robert P. Kelch delivers the 2006 Winkelman Lecture.
Winkelman lecturer discusses stress on health care system The aging population and increasing demand for new treatments are two reasons the national health care system will become more inadequate and troublesome unless steps are taken to make it socially responsible, says Dr. Robert P. Kelch, executive vice president for medical affairs and U-M Health System CEO. In addition, universal health coverage is needed—which Kelch believes will happen in some form—to assist many people who are uninsured and underinsured. Kelch focused on this topic in the Winkelman Lecture on April 4 at the School of Social Work. His talk was titled “A Socially Responsible Health Care System in the Era of Longevity Genes.” Research and medicine have led the way to people living longer. Kelch says researchers have studied a compound called resveratrol—found in red wine— that increased the longevity of fruit flies by 30 percent. Now researchers are looking at a similar compound as they study mice. A longer life expectancy is good news for the first Baby Boomers as they
turn 60 this year. They are better health care consumers than their predecessors, better educated—including about health care—and more active, Kelch says. But they also demand more care with their “fix it” mentality. The United States will spend nearly $2 trillion on health care in 2006— 15.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product, more than any other major expenditure and more per capita than anywhere in the world. “The money we’re devoting to health care isn’t spread evenly, but is concentrated on a small percentage of the overall population,” says Kelch. “It also isn’t devoted to prevention, but rather highly complex, often end-of-life care.” The Winkelman Lecture Series is presented biennially in memory of Leon and Josephine Winkelman. To request a copy of the monograph, please contact the Alumni Office at ssw.alumni@umich.edu.
In July the Emerging Scholars Interdisciplinary Network (ESIN) held its first summer institute, led by Sean Joe, assistant professor of social work and its founder and director. The ESIN was created to provide strategic research career planning and peer support to junior faculty of color dedicated to bringing to light and ameliorating health-related and social disparities that are commonly experienced by underserved communities. The purpose of the summer institute is to increase participants’ methodological skills and encourage collaboration through information sharing, training, and social networks. According to Joe, the ESIN is the only interdisciplinary, interracial, multiethnic peer support network for junior social or behavioral scientists of color. The School teamed with U-M’s Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and the Office of the Provost to sponsor this program. Participants attended two ICPSR courses: a statistics course and a series in Methodological Issues in Quantitative Research on Race and Ethnicity. The sixteen scholars, three of whom are from the University of Michigan, attended a luncheon speaker series covering various topics relevant to their professional development and enhancement. While attending ICPSR classes and the speaker series, participants also developed an empirically based, data-driven paper
—Excerpted, U-M News Service, Jared Wadley. A version of this piece was published originally in the April 3, 2006, issue of The University Record.
The University of Michigan School of Social Work —— [ pg. 19 ]