NIH Health Disparities Seminar Series – September 2014
In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the National Institutes of Health welcomes Dr. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola as the featured speaker for the NIH Health Disparities Seminar Series on September 18, 2014. Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola will address mental health treatment gaps in Hispanics/Latinos.
Mental disorders are major drivers of suffering, disability, and health care cost, and are associated with poverty. To compound this problem, most of the individuals who suffer from mental disorders and are in need of treatment remain untreated although effective treatments are available. Between 50 percent and 90 percent of people with serious mental disorders have not received mental health care in the previous year.
In his presentation, Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola will examine the extent of this treatment gap in ethnically and racially diverse populations in the United States. He will present examples of how treatment gap data is being translated into policy and services in a way that addresses the unmet mental health needs of underserved populations at state and local levels. He will conclude with a demonstration from a local example of how communities and diverse constituencies are coming together to build partnerships and organize to make decisions and achieve transformative social action that hopefully will lead to the reduction of mental health disparities. (Click here for abstract)
Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola is a professor of clinical internal medicine at the School of Medicine, University of California (UC), Davis. He is the founding director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities at the UC Davis Health System, the director of the Community Engagement Program of the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center, the co-director of the UC Davis Latino Aging Research and Resource Center, and co-chair of NIH’s Community Engagement Key Function Committee for the NIH-funded Clinical and Translational Science Awards. In 2007, he completed a 4-year term as a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council of the National Institute of Mental Health. He was the chairman of the Board of Directors of Mental Health America from 2008 to 2010. He is currently a Steering Committee and Research Scientist member of the National Hispanic Science Network, a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of Autism Speaks, a member of the Board of the Latino Physicians of California, and a member of the California Medical Board’s Cultural and Linguistic Competency Program Workgroup. He has held several World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan American Health Organization advisory board and consulting positions and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the WHO World Mental Health Surveys Consortium and its coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Presentation Title:
If You Build It, Will They Come? Addressing Mental Health Treatment Gaps in Latinos
Guest Speaker:
Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD, PhD (Click here for bio)
Director, UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities
Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine
University of California at Davis
Date/Time:
Thursday, September 18, 2014
3:00 - 4:30 P.M.
Location:
NIH Campus
Natcher Conference Center, Building 45, Main Auditorium
45 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD
Additional Information:
There is limited parking on the NIH campus. The closest Metro is Medical Center. Please allow adequate time for security check. The seminar will be video cast and made available in the NIH Video archives and on the NIMHD website after the seminar. Sign language interpreters will be provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate should contact Edgar Dews at 301-402-1366 or the Federal Relay at 1-800-877-8339.
