The 2021 Virtual Conference
In 2020 we were presented with seemingly insurmountable challenges: from a global health pandemic that has illuminated how economics affects health and healthcare, to the very public outcry for social justice. These dilemmas have left all of us dealing with serious questions while trying not to give in to feelings often described as hopelessness and helplessness.
In 1967 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. isolated himself in Jamaica where he wrote his last manuscript. The book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? would be his most prophetic work. In it he maintains that there will be no true progress “unless the whole of American society takes a new turn toward greater economic justice.”(King, 50)
Today we find ourselves still grappling with the same question posed by Dr. King in 1967. To honor Dr. King’s legacy of leadership, we have chosen the theme “Where Do I Go From Here?”. We hope to help bring clarity to the uncertainty surrounding our future by promoting specific tools for empowerment, inspiration, and guidance. Our goal is to mobilize each of us to personally contribute toward moving America to unity. The theme is a self-reflective question that pushes us to consider how as individuals we can make our society better now and for coming generations.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Brenda J. Thames, EdD
Prisma Health Chief Academic Executive Officer & Provost, Health Sciences Center
Dr. Brenda J. Thames is Prisma Health Chief Academic Executive Officer and Provost for the Health Sciences Center. She provides senior executive leadership for the academic enterprise overseeing and coordinating academic activities across Prisma Health affiliates to ensure alignment with the strategies and goals of the company. Her work includes integration of academic activities with other business lines of Prisma Health and its affiliates, to include clinical, operations, and finance. In collaboration with other Prisma Health executives, she identifies, develops, and nurtures strategic academic partnerships and affiliations via the Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Thames has a B.S. degree from Mississippi State University, a master’s and doctorate degree from Clemson University. She has devoted her professional career to academics with a focus across the continuum of pipeline through professional degrees and is founder of the Medical Experience (MedEx) Academy program giving students (high school and undergraduates) experience in the “real world” of health care. She is Associate Dean for Institutional Culture and Inclusivity for the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville.
Dr. Thames has served on numerous boards and committees representing the health system and was Chair of the Greenville Chamber Board in 2017. She is passionate about her work and committed to fostering collaboration to improve the health of our communities.