TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Institute for Rural Health Research at The University of Alabama is hosting its sixth annual Rural Health Conference on April 21-22 beginning at 8 a.m. at UA’s Bryant Conference Center.

“Community Partnerships: Navigating the Course for a Healthy Alabama” is the theme of the conference, which brings together individuals from diverse backgrounds who share a common interest in improving the health of citizens throughout rural Alabama.

Community leaders, health care providers, researchers, policy makers, educators, social workers, mental health professionals, representatives of faith-based organizations, and federal, state and local government officials are encouraged to attend.

Dr. Francisco Sy, chief of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities’ Office of Community-based Research and Outreach, is the opening keynote speaker. The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities is a division of the National Institutes of Health. Sy will speak on the morning of April 21.

Other keynote speakers include Congressman Artur Davis, who represents the 7th District of Alabama, and Dr. Ed Thompson, deputy director for Public Health Services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both will speak the morning of April 22.

Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble, director of the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, will be the luncheon speaker on April 21. She will discuss how trust affects the relationship between the health care system and racial and ethnic minorities, key factors that have influenced the attitudes of minorities toward medical institutions and the impact of the U.S. Public Health Syphilis Study at Tuskegee.

Conference session topics include HIV/AIDS, mental health, Rural Communities in Action, the Black Belt Action Commission and others.

The Rural Health Conference registration fee is $75 per person. The fee includes handout materials, two continental breakfasts, a luncheon and refreshment breaks. Registration does not include lodging.

Pre-conference workshops will be held on April 20 at the Bryant Conference Center, although one pre-conference workshop will be held off-site. The workshops to be held at the Conference Center include Grant Writing for Community-based Organizations, and Public Health Professional Services Leadership Day. The registration fee for these workshops is $45 per person. A workshop titled Design, Installation, and Inspection of Alternative On-Site Sewage Systems will be held in Livingston. The registration fee for this workshop is $45 per person and includes transportation to and from Livingston. The registration fee for the Grant Writing workshop is $75 per person.

The conference is supported in part by a grant to the Institute for Rural Health Research from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Much of the research conducted by the Institute focuses on Alabama's rural Black Belt region, where people suffer at higher rates than other Alabamians from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. The Institute is housed within the College of Community Health Sciences, which is the Tuscaloosa Campus of the UA School of Medicine.

Continuing Education Unit certificates are available. For more information, or to register online, visit the conference website at http://rhc.ua.edu, or call the Institute for Rural Health Research at 205/348-0025 or, toll-free, at 1-877-363-2247.