Crossing Bridges Summit returns with “Medical Perspectives on Black Women’s Health”

Penn State Greater Allegheny debuts its fourth year of The Crossing Brides Summit (CBS) with the speaker series “Medical Perspectives on Black Women’s Health,” on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 3 p.m. The virtual event is free and open to the public, courtesy of Penn State’s public media station, WPSU, which will produce and broadcast it live at watch.psu.edu/crossingbridges.

The Oct. 15 installment, the first in a four-part series based on the University of Pittsburgh’s “Inequality Across Race and Gender” report, will examine black women’s health from different perspectives. It will be led by Jonathan White, summit moderator and lecturer of history at Penn State Greater Allegheny.

Panelists include Jessica Brooks; CEO and director of Pittsburgh Business Group on Health; Dr. Liz Miller, University of Pittsburgh professor of public health and clinical and translational science; Jamila Please; founder of Her Birth Right and; Jada Shirriel; CEO of Healthy Start.

“Our Crossing Bridges Summit committee identified this year’s theme after reading ‘Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Race and Gender’ report (released in September 2019),” said Jacqueline Edmondson, Greater Allegheny’s chancellor and chief academic officer. “Women’s health was identified as a concern. We want to partner with local and national experts to help the campus community and the public understand the issues identified in this report, to consider how these issues are manifest in the Mon Valley region, and to identify areas where the campus can collaborate with community partners to be a catalyst for change,” she added.

Crossing Bridges is a program created with the purpose of uniting students, faculty, staff, and community members through five components: a speaker series, summit talks, student-led unity talks, a visiting scholar program, and a task force on racial equity and justice.

Following the Oct. 15 event, the campus will host a summit talk on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 10 a.m. where campus and community members will gather virtually to discuss the panelists’ perspectives and to identify actionable items.

For more information on both events and for a schedule of future installments to the Crossing Bridges program, please visit greaterallegheny.psu.edu/cbsummit.