Distinguished Panel Will Examine Telemedicine and Urban Healthcare at RU-N’s Second Legislative Open House

Reflecting its anchor institution mission to engage cross-sector partners in addressing the great challenges of our time, Rutgers University–Newark (RU-N) will host its second Legislative Open House, “Telemedicine and Urban Healthcare,” on Monday, April 4, 8–10 a.m., in Bove Auditorium at Rutgers Business School, 1 Washington Park, Newark, New Jersey. The program is free and open to the public. Please see agenda below.

April 4, 2016, kicks off National Public Health Week, an initiative to champion the health of all people, in all communities, and to raise awareness of public health concerns and engage directly in efforts to influence public policy that enhances public health. As its contribution to this year’s campaign, RU-N will focus its second Legislative Open House on one of the most important emerging public health issues in the United States – the use of telemedicine to improve urban communities. Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication (smartphones) and information technology (laptops and tablets) to provide clinical health care remotely. It helps remove distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that otherwise would not be readily available in distant or disenfranchised communities. The New Jersey Legislature currently has legislation before it that would authorize health care practitioners to provide health care services through telemedicine—A1464 in the Assembly and S291 in the Senate.

The following panel of scholarly experts and researchers from RU-N; Rutgers Business School–Newark and New Brunswick (RBS); Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS), which houses the medical and dental school, the allied sciences, and the Rutgers School of Nursing; and the City of Newark’s Department of Health and Wellness will explore whether telemedicine is a promising model for improving access to high quality care for vulnerable populations (e.g., children and the elderly, indigent, unemployed, and disabled) in urban communities.

Panelists:

Dr. Ann Bagchi, Rutgers School of Nursing, RBHS
Dr. Hanaa Hamdi, director, Department of Health and Wellness, City of Newark
Dr. Marc Holzer, founding dean, School of Public Affairs and Administration, RU-N
Dr. Ben Melamed, distinguished professor, RBS

Dr. Kevin Lyons, professor, RBS, will serve as moderator.

Each RU-N legislative open house is designed to foster interactions among RU-N faculty, elected and appointed officials, and representatives from different sectors – government, nonprofit, research, business, community- and faith-based organizations – who have recognized interests in the selected topics. Open house attendees will be able to meet with a small circle of publicly engaged subject matter experts and take a tour of Rutgers University–Newark if desired.

The program is free and open to the public but advance registration is required at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FR5w7fuzusSfJ7CyDi0lfp34wRbt05L54ilIA59KAKI/viewform?c=0&w=1.

Members of the media are welcome, and photography and videotaping are allowed. 

AGENDA:
Monday, April 4, 2016, 8 – 10 a.m.
Media availability: 8 – 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast: 8 – 9 a.m.
Panel discussion: 9 – 9:45 a.m.
Q&A: 9:45 – 10 a.m.