Elizabeth A. Ryan, Esq., president and CEO of the New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA), a not-for-profit trade association representing New Jersey's hospitals and other healthcare providers, will deliver the keynote address at New Jersey City University’s sixth annual “Rhonda Berry Health and Wellness Symposium” on Wednesday, October 31, 12:00 – 2:30 p.m., in Multipurpose Room B of NJCU’s Michael Gilligan Student Union, 2039 Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City. Admission is free.
Held in memory of the NJCU student who dedicated her life to educating and advocating for poor and uninsured women battling cancer, the program will focus on issues related to policy, physical health, physical fitness, spiritual health, and mental health as they pertain to women and breast cancer.
Ms. Ryan’s address on "Understanding Impact of Health Care Reform on Poor, Uninsured, Women of Color” will explore some of the major changes in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that will directly affect women with cancer as well as the gains and losses for this population.
Symposium speakers will also include Reverend Venida Rodman Jenkins, director of NJCU’s Speicher-Rubin Women’s Center for Equity and Diversity; Dr. Lilliam Rosado, chair of NJCU’s Department of Health Sciences; Dr. Cheryl Swider, chair of NJCU’s Department of Fitness, Exercise and Sports; members of the Berry family, and breast cancer survivors.
The Princeton-based NJHA provides leadership on quality and patient safety, education and advocacy in both Washington, D.C. and Trenton. As CEO, Ms. Ryan oversees NJHA; Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey, a not-for-profit affiliate that promotes continuing patient safety, education, and research; and the for-profit Healthcare Business Solutions, which provides group purchasing and other business solutions for healthcare providers.
The Symposium is sponsored by Yemaya, an NJCU non-profit, non-religious organization, under the auspices of the University’s Black Administrators, Alumni, Faculty, Staff, and Students Organization (BAAFSSO) and supported by NJCU’s Lee Hagan Africana Studies Center. The event is co-sponsored by the Office of the NJCU Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Ms. Berry was a three-time breast cancer survivor who relapsed in 2006 and died in 2007. At the time of her death, Ms. Berry was an NJCU junior majoring in health sciences.
For further information, call Dr. Karen Ivy, an NJCU associate professor of mathematics and Yemaya chair, at (201)200-2150 or e-mail her at
kivy@njcu.edu.