The New Jersey Health Impact Collaborative (NJHIC), a collaboration of Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS), is hosting a statewide conference on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) on May 7, 2015 at the Cook Campus Center at Rutgers University.
The conference, Health Impact Assessment in New Jersey: Building Capacity to Advance Healthier Decisions, “aims to identify the policies and types of projects where the use of health impact assessment could lead to improved health outcomes and more collaborative decision-making that affect the homes, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities of New Jersey,” said James W. Hughes, dean of the Bloustein School.
The event is also designed to increase awareness about the impact that physical, social and economic factors have on health of residents; enhance understanding of how HIA’s can be a practical tool to identify potential health outcomes of “non-health” decisions; and educate participants about HIA methods, approaches and outcomes.
Leading HIA experts from outside New Jersey as well as practitioners from within New Jersey will participate in the conference as part of NJHIC’s ongoing efforts to increase the use of high quality HIAs to improve health outcomes of decision-making in New Jersey.
Dr. Richard J. Jackson, MD MPH, a professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, will discuss the influence of social factors on health in the morning keynote. A pediatrician, he has served in many leadership positions in both environmental health and infectious disease with the California Health Department, including the highest as the State Health Officer. Denise Rodgers, MD, Vice Chancellor for Interprofessional Programs at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, will present the challenge of disparate health outcomes in New Jersey.
Local government volunteers and professional staff (public health, planners, environmental commissions, engineers); state and local agency staff that oversee decisions affecting the physical and built environment; consulting planners, architects and engineers; state, municipal and county elected officials; and business leaders are encouraged to attend this important event. Continuing education credits will be available. Cost of the conference is $50 per person for early bird registration, $65 thereafter. For a complete agenda, including panel topics and speakers, visit http://njhic.rutgers.edu/conference2015/.
For more information, please contact Samantha Michaele at sjmichaele@ejb.rutgers.edu or 848-932-2901.