By Dan Nonte, University Relations
Dr. Collins O. Airhihenbuwa.
Dr. Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, an international leader in HIV/AIDS education, will deliver the annual Ethel Martus Lawther Lecture.
His lecture, “Promoting Healthy Differences in the Boundaries of Sameness,” will take place at 7 p.m. Oct. 16 in Elliott University Center Auditorium. The School of Health and Human Performance, in collaboration with the Lloyd International Honors College, is sponsoring the event to help commemorate the grand opening of the college.
Raised in Nigeria, Airhihenbuwa has spent more than two decades pioneering and promoting HIV/AIDS education. He is a professor and interim head of the Department of Biobehavioral Health at Pennsylvania State University.
His lecture will focus on cultural issues that contribute to poor health and also frustrate efforts at health promotion. “Better public health requires moving beyond these boundaries,” he said. “The quest for equity in global health continues to remain a major challenge as new diseases threaten to erase gains that have been made in the past.”
He is the principal investigator of a five-year National Institute of Mental Health grant to investigate HIV/AIDS stigma in South Africa. He directs Penn State’s Alliance for Earth Sciences, Engineering and Development in Africa Center for Global Health and Georesource Management, and the Center for Health and Culture, a private consulting firm.
Among his publications are “Health and Culture: Beyond the Western Paradigm” (1995) and “UNAIDS Communications Framework for HIV/AIDS: A New Direction” (1999). His forthcoming book is “Healing Our Differences: The Crisis of Global Health and the Politics of Identity.”
He was voted the 1998 Scholar of Year by the American Association for Health Education, the 2000 Symbol of HOPE award recipient by the American Journal of Health Promotion, and the 2006 David Satcher award recipient by the Directors of Health Promotion and Education. He was the 2004/2005 President of the Society for Public Health Education.
The Lawther Lecture remembers Ethel Martus Lawther, the first dean of the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, now HHP. She served in this capacity from 1947 to 1971. During her tenure, she helped expand the scope of the department, which eventually became a school unto itself.
Paid parking for this event is available in the Walker Street deck across from EUC.
For more information on this and other HHP events, call the school at (336) 334-5744.
