Join us for
UAB Arts in Medicine
10th Anniversary Celebration
November 19
5 p.m.
Alys Stephens Center
Reception with Hors’doeuvres & beverages
Various art activities and experiences throughout the Alys Stephens Center lobbies
Live music by Davis Little and AIM Artist in Residence, Haleigh Black.
Featuring “Color Response,” an interactive art experience facilitated by artist Annie Kammerer Butrus.
6:00 pm
Dr. David Fakunle presents A Reaffirmation of Humanity
Storytelling and music experience in the Sirote Theatre
Dr. Jill Sonke presents Arts Engagement As A Social Determinant of Health: What is the Evidence?
Sharing the latest arts and health research and initiatives happening around the world. Presentations will be followed by a conversation and audience Q & A
7:15 pm
Performance by Healing Harmonies & Healthcare Harmonies Choirs
Healthcare Harmonies is the UAB Medicine Staff Choir. This choir is composed of doctors, nurses, social workers, environmental services workers, hospital leadership, and more—anyone who impacts patient care at UAB Medicine.
Sirote Theatre
with a special appearance by Shaheed and DJ Supreme
The evening will also include a special presentation by Birmingham’s Inaugural Poet Laureate, Salaam Green, and the unveiling of a newly commissioned work by artist Annie Kammerer Butrus for UAB Medicine.
RSVP HERE
Meet Our Speakers
David Olawuyi Fakunle, Ph.D. is a “mercenary for change,” employing the necessary skills and occupying the necessary spaces to help strengthen everyone divested from their truest self, particularly those who identify as Black, Indigenous and/or a Person of Color. David serves as Assistant Professor of Public and Allied Health at the Morgan State University School of Community Health & Policy, Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine, and Associate Faculty in Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. David’s interests include stressors within the built environment, manifestations of systemic oppression, and the utilization of arts and culture to cultivate holistic health through humanity, justice, equity and ultimately, liberation.
Additionally, David has applied artistic and cultural practices such as Black storytelling, African drumming, singing and theater in the proclamation of truth for over 25 years, collaborating primarily with organizations in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. region. Among many affiliations, David is co-founder and CEO of DiscoverME/RecoverME, an organization that utilizes the African oral tradition to empower use of storytelling for healing and growth, previously served as Executive Director of WombWork Productions, a Baltimore-based social change performing arts company, and serves as Chair of the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the first state-level commission in the U.S. dedicated to chronicling and bringing justice to racial terror lynchings.
Jill Sonke, PhD, is a Research Professor and Director of Research Initiatives in the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida (UF), Director of National Research and Impact for the One Nation/One Project initiative, and Co-director of the EpiArts Lab, a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab in partnership with University College London. She is an affiliated faculty member in the UF School of Theatre & Dance, the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, the Center for African Studies, and the STEM Translational Communication Center, and is an editorial board member for Health Promotion Practice journal.
Dr. Sonke served during the pandemic as a senior advisor to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Confidence and Demand Team on the COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Task Force and currently serves on the steering committee and as an Affiliated Researcher in the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, established by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Steinhardt School at New York University, Community Jameel, and CULTURUNNERS.
With 30 years of experience and leadership in the field of arts in health and a PhD in arts in public health from Ulster University in Northern Ireland, Jill is active in research and policy advocacy nationally and internationally. She is an artist and a mixed methods researcher with a current focus on population-level health outcomes associated with arts and cultural participation, arts in public health, and the arts in health communication. She is the recipient of a New Forms Florida Fellowship Award, a State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship Award, a NISOD Excellence in Teaching Award, a UF Internationalizing the Curriculum Award, a UF Most Outstanding Service Learning Faculty Award, a UF Public Health Champions award, a UF Cross-Campus Faculty Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and over 350 grants for her programs and research at the University of Florida.