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Each year, UMB commemorates the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.This celebration reinforces UMB’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. An inspiring keynote message is delivered by a distinguished leader or scholar in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion.This year’s keynote message is “Fulfilling Dr. King's Legacy from Civil Rights to Economic Rights: Causes, Consequences, and Remedies to Fulfill Economic and Racial Justice.”KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Darrick Hamilton, PhD, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy and Founding Director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, The New School, New York City.

Each year, UMB commemorates the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.This celebration reinforces UMB’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. An inspiring keynote message is delivered by a distinguished leader or scholar in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion.This year’s keynote message is “Fulfilling Dr. King's Legacy from Civil Rights to Economic Rights: Causes, Consequences, and Remedies to Fulfill Economic and Racial Justice.”KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Darrick Hamilton, PhD, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy and Founding Director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, The New School, New York City.

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.

Professor Kathleen Hoke is director of the Network for Public Health Law, Eastern Region, and the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She teaches the Public Health Law Clinic through which she engages law students in the work of the Network for Public Health Law and the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy. She also teaches Public Health and the Law, introducing students to the legal framework within which the public health system operates.The Network for Public Health Law was launched in September 2010 with the goal of providing technical legal assistance to national, state, and local public health professionals, their attorneys, legislators, and advocates working to develop sound public policy to improve public health. The Network for Public Health Law also develops 50-state law surveys, factsheets, issue briefs, webinars, and other useful tools on emerging and persistent public health issues. Under Professor Hoke’s direction, the Network for Public Health Law’s Eastern Region deliverables have focused on environmental health, food safety, and injury prevention. Professor Hoke has conducted research and prepared materials specifically related to hydrofracturing, medical marijuana laws, and health agency access to school health records.Through the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy, Professor Hoke provides technical legal assistance to Maryland state and local health officials, legislators, and organizations working in tobacco control. Recent work has focused on the regulation of electronic smoking devices (vapes), prohibition on the sale of flavored tobacco products, raising the age of access to tobacco to 21, and the development of sound policies to create smoke-free multiunit housing.Professor Hoke joined the faculty in 2002 after serving for eight years with the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland. During her tenure as an assistant attorney general, she served in the Civil Litigation Division and the Opinions and Advice Division. As a special assistant attorney general, she worked on a variety of public health initiatives, including tobacco regulation and gun control, and represented the office in multistate cases through the National Association of Attorneys General.Professor Hoke graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1992, having served on the executive board of the Maryland Law Review and as a member of the National Moot Court Team.

Dr. Gobburu is a world-renowned scientific leader in the area of quantitative disease models and their applications to decisions. He is best known for transforming the field of pharmacometrics into a decision-supporting science. His experience as a senior biomedical research scientist and director of pharmacometrics at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives him unique insight into the technical, regulatory, and decision-making aspects in all phases of drug development. He obtained his BPharm and MSc in chemistry from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, his PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from North Dakota State University, and his MBA from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Gobburu’s research interests include pediatrics, clinical pharmacology and translational research, comparative effectiveness, and pharmacometrics.

Adam received his Ph.D. from the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Melbourne (Australia) working with Dr. Brian Key on the role of cell-surface carbohydrates in axon guidance within the olfactory system. He then moved to the U.S. to conduct post-doctoral work with Dr. Michael T. Shipley at the University of Maryland. He remained at the University of Maryland School of Medicine as tenured faculty in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology.

Sarah L.J. Michel, PhD, began her tenure as dean of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP) on Oct. 15, 2023.Michel is a professor, former chair of UMSOP’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (PSC), former associate dean for graduate programs, and an internationally recognized leader in the field of metals in medicine. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and U.S. Army Research labs for investigating the roles that metals play in the regulation of chronic inflammation, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases.She also has been active in clinical research through Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants, and she has been closely involved with the Maryland Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation. Notably, a FDA clinical trial headed by Michel led the FDA to issue new guidance on how generic nanomedicines should be evaluated for approval. In addition, she is part of a PSC and University of Maryland School of Dentistry team of researchers funded by the FDA that is investigating the safety of electronic cigarettes.In her nearly 19 years at UMSOP, Michel has been intricately involved in all of the school’s educational aspects, including PhD and MS programs and the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program, where she redesigned the core biochemistry course to emphasize clinical applications to pharmacy and led the development of the PharmD research pathway. She has mentored dozens of PhD and PharmD students and has a keen understanding of the pharmacy profession, as well as the many roles and career opportunities for today’s UMSOP students.Michel received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Cornell University and a PhD in chemistry from Northwestern University. She completed an NIH National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.For interview requests, please contact the Office of Communications and Public Affairs: https://www.umaryland.edu/news/for-the-media/