Baltimore Racial Justice Action (BRJA) is a Black-led, multiracial, intergenerational organization focusing on anti-racism/anti-oppression consulting and public education while working to facilitate transformative change — individually, institutionally, and ultimately societally — toward racial justice and justice related to other oppressive systems.It works to provide tools and services to organizations and individuals interested in working to dismantle the anti-Black, white supremacist power structures within most U.S. institutions that disproportionately impact the livelihoods, health, and well-being of Black and non-Black people of color and communities, and to assist connections being made to other forms of oppression.Dottye Burt-Markowitz, one of the co-founders of the group, speaks about the organization's work as it was honored with a University of Maryland, Baltimore Community Champion of Equity and Justice Award at the 2025 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month Celebration on Feb. 6.Learn more about BRJA and the awards: https://elm.umaryland.edu/elm-stories/2025/Community-Champion-of-Equity-and-Justice-Award-Winner-Baltimore-Racial-Justice-Action.php

Kevin Ricks is the founder and chief executive officer of Lee Lee Kiddz, a nonprofit youth flag football league that engages Baltimore elementary and middle school youths in athletics and physical fitness while empowering them in their educational pursuits.The league’s mission is to provide comprehensive, year-round programs that combine flag football, academic tutoring, mentoring, and leadership development to help young people build life skills, enhance their educational outcomes, and prepare for future success.The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) presented its Community Champion of Equity and Justice Awards at the 2025 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month Celebration on Feb. 6. Kevin Ricks will receive one of the awards.Learn more about Ricks and Lee Lee Kiddz's work in Baltimore: https://elm.umaryland.edu/elm-stories/2025/Community-Champion-of-Equity-and-Justice-Award-Winner-Kevin-Ricks.php

Physician assistant students at the University of Maryland School of Graduate Studies now use virtual reality to enhance their education. Under the aegis of the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing, supported by the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State, the new program allows students to see the virtual examination of a simulated stroke patient from every angle - including inside the body - to fully understand the pathophysiologic mechanisms of disease.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore and Wexford Science & Technology cut the ribbon for 4MLK, the newest addition to the University of Maryland BioPark during a ceremony on Jan. 15, 2025.Located at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and West Baltimore Street, the eight-story, 250,000-square-foot 4MLK was designed to stand as a center of community engagement in addition to research and entrepreneurship.4MLK will serve as the global headquarters for Wexford Science & Technology and includes such tenets as Connect Labs by Wexford, UMB startup Irazú Oncology, the Emerging Technology Center Baltimore, and EPOCH Epigenetics, among others. In addition, the facility’s fourth floor is home to the Edward and Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine.

Dr. Conyers is the associate dean for equity, diversity, and inclusion and an assistant professor, teaching excellence tenure track, at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. In this role, Conyers serves as the primary advisor to UMSON’s dean, senior academic leadership team, senior administrative team, and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Council on operational and strategic goals related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Over the last few decades, Dr. Colloca has conducted studies on the behavioral, neural, and pharmacological mechanisms of pain modulation related to placebo and nocebo effects. Her lab has also developed an interest in virtual reality as a non-pharmacological approach to relieve pain and other symptoms. She has published in top-ranked international journals including Biological Psychiatry, Pain, Nature Neuroscience, JAMA, Lancet Neurology, Science and NEJM. As a result, Dr. Colloca has developed an international reputation as a leading scientist in advancing knowledge of the neurobiological mechanisms of descending pain modulation and placebo and nocebo effects with an integrative approach that includes psychopharmacological, neurobiological, and behavioral approaches.