DEI Speaks! Series Makes An Impact

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) recently hosted two virtual DEI Speaks! events. Both events featured critical conversations by nationally known experts who are truly walking the walk when it comes to DEI.

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The first discussion was led by David X. Marquez, PhD, an expert in health disparities within the Latino community, who spoke about his research study on Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Marquez is a professor of kinesiology and nutrition and the director of the Exercise Psychology Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also the lead investigator of a Rush University Medical Center study focused on Alzheimer’s disease risk factors in older Latino adults.

He presented data from a 2016 report by researchers at the University of Southern California, citing U.S. Latinos living with Alzheimer’s disease are projected to increase from 379,000 in 2012 to 1.1 million by 2030 and to 3.5 million by 2060 – a growth of 832 percent. However, experts are also acutely aware Hispanics and Latinos are the most historically underrepresented population in today’s Alzheimer’s research, emphasizing the need for increased efforts to engage U.S. Latinos in clinical research.

In his talk titled “Importance of Culture in Addressing the Health of Latino/a/xs,” Dr. Marquez discussed how cultural sensitivity can be one of the best tools in working to remove barriers and disparities in health faced by older Latinos.

Goals of the study set out to not only influence cognition, but also to increase physical activity, which is why Dr. Marquez developed a dance program called BAILAMOS™, a community-based intervention focused on Latin dancing. Data from his research proved Latin dance to be an effective strategy. Nydia Han, an investigative reporter and a Sunday morning co-anchor with 6ABC Action News in Philadelphia, prefaced the following virtual DEI Speaks! event with staggering statistics, calling out the dramatic rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S., when she said, “I really think that we are a community in crisis right now.”

Han reported research recently published by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, revealing anti-Asian hate crime increased by 339 percent last year compared to the year before. In Philadelphia, anti-Asian hate crimes more than quadrupled, jumping from eight to 28 incidents from 2019 to 2020 according to Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition that tracks and responds to hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Since many of these hateful acts go unreported due to fear from victims, however, Han also acknowledged the real number is difficult to determine.

During the one-hour presentation, the Emmy-award winning journalist shared excerpts from her work #ThisIsAmerica (issues of race, discrimination, and bias). The documentary is a series about race and who we are as Americans that Han created after her experience with racism. She recounted the devastating event which prompted her to post a Facebook video in response to a driver who almost hit her, yelling at Han, “This is America,” on a Philadelphia street.