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Conference: Health Across Borders: Migration, Disease, Medicine, and Public Health in a Global Age

On September 18-19, 2014, the Center for the History of the New America and
the Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland will co-host a
conference<http://newamerica.umd.edu/conferences/fall2014/overview.php>
exploring the connections between migration, race, disease, and public
health. Dr. David Satcher, 16th Surgeon General of the United States, will
be the keynote speaker.

Historically, immigration has had as much to do with the movement of
disease as with the movement of people. In the United States, Ellis, Angel,
and Sullivan Islands began as quarantine stations, and to this day
immigrants and their health continue to be a focus of policy debates. From
smallpox to AIDS, immigrants have been the targets of medicalized prejudice
and have been stigmatized by associations with disease. After their
arrival, immigrants face unique challenges when interacting with doctors,
hospitals, and governmental health care professionals. Although their work
leaves them vulnerable to injury and disease, immigrants struggle with
inequities in access to quality health care.

Health Across Borders: Migration, Disease, Medicine, and Public Health in a
Global Age will bring together leading scholars, practitioners, public
officials, labor leaders, and immigrants themselves to explore public
health in the age of mass migration. Among other matters, they will address
the economics of migration, patterns of prejudice in medical practices, and
access to health insurance.

The conference is free and open to the public, and we encourage all who are
interested in these important issues to attend. More information, including
sessions and confirmed speakers, will be available in the coming months at
the conference website<
http://newamerica.umd.edu/conferences/fall2014/overview.php>.

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