MOUNT PROSPECT, IL, March 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr Jerome Adams, 20th United States surgeon general and current executive director of health equity initiatives at Purdue University, will present the keynote address during the 118th National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® (NABP®) Annual Meeting, which will be held May 19-21, 2022, in Phoenix, AZ.
Merging his expertise at the forefront of national and global health policy with his own personal experiences, Adams will cover an array of health topics. Never backing down from tough questions, he will bring a passion for engagement that pulls him from behind the podium to genuinely interact with Annual Meeting attendees.
“We cannot think of a better way to return to an in-person Annual Meeting this year than having an inspirational health care leader like Dr Adams speak as our keynote,” notes NABP President Caroline D. Juran, BSPharm, DPh (Hon). “Dr Adams’ staunch support for solutions to timely and critical issues, including the opioid epidemic and coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, will provide attendees fresh perspectives on how to tackle some of the most challenging concerns facing boards of pharmacy.”
As the 20th US surgeon general, Adams brought a passionate commitment to fighting issues that his family and community experienced being poor and Black in the rural South, including limited health care access, chronic disease, and substance use disorder (SUD) in the midst of the opioid epidemic, as well as tobacco addiction, maternal health challenges, mental illness, and the ensuing stigma related to these challenges. As a child, Adams faced life-threatening asthma, and as a brother to someone with an SUD, he navigates politics to tirelessly champion the health of the vulnerable and voiceless during times of crisis.
Adams led the 6,000-person US Public Health Service as “America’s doctor” during a worldwide pandemic. In high school, Adams excelled in science, math, and technology, and he was awarded a scholarship to study biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. It was there that he first met a Black physician and was inspired to pursue a career in medicine. And throughout his career, Adams has continued a hands-on approach to medicine, maintaining hospital privileges and becoming the only surgeon general in recent history to actively practice while in office.
NABP is the independent, international, and impartial Association that assists its member boards in protecting the public health.
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