Lydia is a junior majoring in Microbiology and Public and Nonprofit Administration. While their research interests are at the microscopic level, they enjoy AMWHO because it gives them a chance to apply their research to a global scale. In addition to AMWHO, Lydia manages social media for a local nonprofit, serves as a resident advisor, and is raising two pet shrimp.
CloseJeanette is a junior majoring in Chemical Biosciences and Public Health with a minor in Medical Humanities and Pre-Med Studies. She was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Jeanette joined AMWHO because of her past interests in competitive speaking events, like Mock Trial, and her ongoing interest in medicine. She enjoys volunteering and competitive swimming.
CloseNatalie is a sophomore dual majoring in Microbiology and Musical Arts for Cello Performance with minors in Spanish and Medical Humanities on the Pre-Med track. As a part of the Medical Humanities Scholars Program at OU, Natalie hopes to become a physician working toward making quality healthcare accessible to everyone.
CloseWe are honored and excited to invite you to the 2021 American Mock World Health Organization Oklahoma Regional Conference “Drugs: Global Harm Reduction in Action.”
Conversations in drug policy have only recently shifted from complete prohibition to a harm reduction approach. We hope to bring this perspective from our local roots to the international level through our simulation of the World Health Assembly. For the first time in three years, this conference is being hosted in-person at the Thurman J. White Forum Building in Norman, Oklahoma. We are especially excited to bring conversations in drug policy and harm reduction here to Oklahoma, in the heart of the opioid epidemic.
As an established chapter in the midwest region, the University of Oklahoma AMWHO chapter has hosted three successful regional conferences in partnership with universities across the region and mentored new chapters. Despite setbacks caused by the pandemic, we continue to engage students in global public health, policy-making, and international diplomacy. We are grateful to our past leaders for the establishment of a solid chapter, and to the Hudson College of Public Health for their ongoing support.
We hope that our conference and your further involvement in AMWHO help grow not only your passion for public health, but also your desire to create meaningful change toward bettering health outcomes in your community. The ongoing pandemic has heightened awareness of public health issues and the need for science communication. Now, more than ever, it is important to think global and act local. Here at AMWHO, we look forward to inspiring the future generation of health advocates and giving them the tools to change the future.
Travis N. Rieder, PhD, is the Assistant Director for Education Initiatives, Director of the Master of Bioethics degree program and Research Scholar at the Berman Institute of Bioethics. He is also a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for Public Health Advocacy within the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
Dr. Rieder's research program concerns ethical and
policy issues surrounding America’s opioid
epidemic. In this area, Travis has published an essay
in Health Affairs concerning physician responsibility
for safely weaning patients off prescription opioids,
and co-authored a National Academy of Medicine
Perspective Paper on Physician Responsibility in
combating the opioid crisis.
Dr. Yu Lu holds a PhD in Communications and currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the University of Oklahoma Department of Health and Exercise Science where she teaches global health. Dr. Lu's research experience includes Chinese-American smoking habits, maternal smoking habits, and youth alcohol use and abuse. Dr. Lu is an award-winning researcher who previously worked at the Center for Addiction Research, University of Texas Medical Branch.
CloseAs a medical anthropologist, Dr. Elyse Singer's research and teaching explore bioethical conflicts at the beginning and end of life to engage wider disciplinary conversations about dignity, inequality, moral personhood, and sociopolitical belonging. Her scholarship places law, religion, and medicine in the same analytic frame to examine how people grapple with ethically extreme decisions in a context where state law has recently come to contradict other moral frameworks for like religion.
CloseThank you for your interest in the American Mock World Health Organization, Inc. For any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this chapter, please fill out the form below.