University hosts DC forum on health, education
WASHINGTON, DC—With the national debate over health care reform reaching a decisive stage, a high-level policy forum sponsored by the University on Thursday offered a glimpse of how rigorous research can shape responses to the nation’s most challenging problems.
The event, called “Chicago Contributes,” brought together cabinet secretaries and leading researchers in health and education, along with an audience of hundreds that ranged from schoolteachers to surgeons and corporate executives. It was also a unique chance for University alumni, faculty, students, and trustees to take part in two vital national policy discussions.
The program unfolded in one of Washington’s storied monumental rooms, the 1930s-era Mellon Auditorium. Education activists mingled with leaders of industry amid 60-foot colonnades festooned with golden eagles, shields, and quivers.
Many speakers expressed hope that evidence-based reforms of education and health care are gaining wider acceptance, making the most of what research universities can offer.
“Because of the very complexity of these problems, universities are particularly well-positioned to bring together the multiple perspectives required to address them,” said President Robert J. Zimmer, who hosted the event. “And the University of Chicago has a particular culture that allows us to shed light on the most complex problems.”
What Happens After Health Reform
The need to base policy on practical research was a recurring theme of both policy sessions—the first on health care, with a keynote address by Kathleen Sebelius, US Secretary of Health and Human Services; and an education session led off with a talk by US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Sebelius stressed that long after the current debate over health reform legislation is finished, research must guide coordinated efforts to help Americans stay healthier.
“What we’re really talking about is transforming a system of care in America,” Sebelius said. “We need to know what strategies really work on the ground in communities around the country to change health behavior.”
A panel of health policy experts from around the country discussed how to improve access to health services and the quality of care that Americans receive. Eric Whitaker, Executive Vice President of Strategic Affiliations and Associate Dean of Community-based Research at the University of Chicago Medical Center, cited the University’s Urban Health Initiative, saying it is designed to improve preventive care by strengthening the network of health care providers on Chicago’s South Side.
“We’re trying to not only build a health care system, but to have an approach with a public health focus,” Whitaker said. For example, he said health reform laws are not designed to address problems such as “food deserts”—neighborhoods where few stores sell fresh fruits and vegetables, leading to nutritional deficits. Addressing such problems will take broader community action, including promoting farmer’s markets and working to bring more businesses to urban neighborhoods, he said.
Using technology to build healthy communities is another task where universities can play a key role, said panelist Patrick Soon-Shiong, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Abraxis Health, and Executive Director of the UCLA Wireless Health Initiative. Soon-Shiong said that patients and doctors often lack the health information they need to make timely choices about care, such as how to treat pancreatic cancer based on a patient’s individual profile.
Much as the National Weather Service makes forecasts available for free, Soon-Shiong said health information should be treated as a public utility and made widely available through sophisticated data networks.
“That technology exists,” Soon-Shiong said. “In fact the University of Chicago is one of the pioneers in this technology.”
From Dewey to Charter Schools
The role that universities can play in education reform was the main topic of the second session, featuring Duncan. He described the University’s operation of four charter schools in Chicago as a model of how universities can help translate reform ideas into action.
“You are running what are arguably some of the best charter schools in the country,” said Duncan, former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.
Operating those schools is a natural extension of the teachings of the progressive philosopher John Dewey, said panelist Timothy Knowles, the Lewis-Sebring Director of the University’s Urban Education Institute.
“Dewey taught the world that children learn by doing,” Knowles said of the Laboratory Schools founder. “And if universities are to stay vital and not become obsolete, we have to build knowledge by doing.”
At the forum with Duncan was John Q. Easton, Director of the federal Institute of Education Sciences, who described his ongoing efforts to expand research partnerships with policymakers and education practitioners. Easton, former head of the University’s Consortium on Chicago School Research, said he often asks himself, “How can our Chicago experiences have an impact on the federal level?”
That question had a special resonance for many of the educators who attended the session. Recent graduate Matt Kennedy rushed to the event after finishing his workday teaching a special education class at a Washington, DC school. Kennedy, who was president of student government at the University, said he is trying to put his education to use in closing the achievement gap in urban schools.
“There are about 40 teachers at my school, and four of us came from the U of C,” Kennedy said.
The way such young teachers are trained could change dramatically in the years ahead, based largely on research being done at the University of Chicago, Stanford University, and elsewhere. Charles Payne, the Frank P. Hixon Professor in the School of Social Service Administration, echoed the thoughts of several panelists who said the opportunity to make well-informed changes in education is greater than ever.
“For the first time in my career, education research has a place at the table that it’s never had before,” Payne said. “In that sense, universities can make an enormous contribution.”
By Jeremy Manier
