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.