UCF MedPACt, in collaboration with UCF KNIGHTS Clinic, is proud to present the 7th annual Global Health Conference. This year’s conference will be held on January 20th, 2017, at the University of Central Florida’s Medical Campus in Lake Nona, and the theme is “healthcare as a human right”.

The human right to health guarantees a system of health protection for all ensuring “the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,” according to the World Health Organization. Having a human right to healthcare constitutes access and availability to hospitals, clinics, medicines, and doctors’ services on an equitable level as necessary guided by quality standards and control mechanisms. Health policies and programs have a responsibility to protect this human right to healthcare through their implementation and design. Despite this human rights approach, the vulnerable and marginalized groups in societies usually have the higher prevalence of health problems due to less access and participation. This conference will focus on implementing clinical knowledge in the face of medical challenges caused by an inadequate access to healthcare, as well as the role of the medical professional in advocating to address various healthcare disparities.

This year’s keynote speaker is Masahiro Morikawa, MD, MPH, the Ann S. & Anthony J. Asher professor in Family Medicine & Community Health, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. Dr. Mori is the former Medical Director and the Vice-chair of KinderBerg International, a leading secular humanitarian NGO in Germany. He has received numerous awards, including the Humanism in Medicine Award in 2002 from the Association of American Medical Colleges and Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative, the 2011 Family Medicine educator of the Year from the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians, and the 2012 Exemplary Teaching Award by AAFP. He delivered 2017 Annual Ostergaard memorial lecture in Global health at the AAFP global health workshop in Houston in October. Dr. Mori is most passionate about helping the next generation of global health practitioners through his bedside teaching.

The proceeds from the conference will be jointly split between Cindy Nelly’s StandWithMe initiative supporting Syrian refugees in the Middle East, MedPACt’s Apopka Clinics, and KNIGHTS Clinic.

For more information and to register for the conference, please visit http://www.ucfglobalhealth.org.

We welcome questions and comments at directors@conference.ucfglobalhealth.org.