The Hopkins 21st Century Cities Initiative partnered with the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at the University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley) to host a conference titled “Race and Inequality in America: The Kerner Commission at 50” on Feb. 28 and March 1.

The panel on public health in cities, focusing on how it relates to black neighborhoods and other marginalized communities, featured Baltimore City Commissioner of Health Dr. Leana Wen, Center for Disease Control epidemiologist Robert Hahn and Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Berkeley School of Public Health Mahasin Mujahid. 

Read entire story.

The Baltimore Health Department is working to design a system to monitor how many drug treatment slots are available in the city at any moment, a plan that officials say should make it easier to get help for addiction patients.

Read the entire story.

Baltimore is planning to join a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration that challenges a cut in federal funding for programs designed to reduce teen pregnancy rates.

“We should be doing everything we can to empower youth to succeed and to thrive,” Dr. Leana Wen said in a statement. 

Read the entire story.

Would we ever tell somebody who has had a heart attack that they need to wait three weeks for treatment? That’s one of the questions that Dr. Leana Wen, health commissioner for the city of Baltimore, asks as she tries to convince public health officials – and the public in general – to rethink their attitudes about addiction. “We know that treating addiction as a crime won’t work,” she said.

To read the entire article, click here.