Panel to Discuss Medical Marijuana at U of A Conference on Health Disparities

Photo Submitted

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – This year’s Arkansas Health Disparities Conference at the University of Arkansas on April 10 will include a panel discussion on the use of medical marijuana and a keynote address on community engagement by the director of research for University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences-Northwest.

The College of Education and Health Profession and Arkansas Migrant Education are co-sponsoring the 2015 Arkansas Health Disparities conference from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 10 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development, 145 N. Buchanan, Fayetteville.

Registration may be completed online or in person on the day of the conference.

The conference includes a full day of presentations by health and social service professionals on topics that include preventing childhood injuries, engaging the diabetic community, health disparities and race, the Arkansas PROMISE program, state prisoners and mental health, research-based nutrition, an update from the Tobacco/Drug Free Coalition, and suicide prevention.

The discussion of the benefits and risks of medical marijuana begins at 3:45 p.m. and features two panelists.

Dr. David E. Smith of Little Rock, a supportive and palliative medicine physician, specializes in medical care for people living with serious illness. He focuses on providing relief from symptoms and stress of serious illness, whatever the diagnosis. A major interest of his specialty is the care of patients with cancer pain. Smith uses and is interested in a wide spectrum of medications, many potentially harmful and addicting, including cannabinoids.

The second panelist is Kit Williams, the Fayetteville city attorney, who will present his personal position, not the position of the city. He will describe how medical marijuana helped his wife with pain and nausea when she was going through cancer treatment a few years ago.

Deanna Perez Williams, conference co-chair, will moderate the discussion.

Pearl McElfish, director of research for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences-Northwest, will give the keynote address at 11 a.m. on the topic “Promoting Community and Client Engagement for Better Health.”

McElfish is co-principal investigator of a $2.99 million grant awarded to UAMS last year by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The grant funds efforts to address health disparities in the Hispanic and Marshallese communities in Benton and Washington counties.

A health disparity exists, according to federal law, “if there is a significant disparity in the overall rate of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality or survival rates in the (minority) population as compared to the health status of the general population.”

Tom Smith, dean of the College of Education and Health Professions, and Jules Beck, clinical assistant professor of workforce development and conference co-chair, will welcome participants. Smith will introduce Charles Robinson, U of A vice chancellor for diversity and community, who will also offer welcoming remarks.

---

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.