Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health SportsBall Gala Celebrates its 28th Year
By Office of The President | Oct 24, 2022
Two months before his February 1993 death, tennis great and activist Arthur Ashe visited SUNY Downstate to announce the creation of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health (AAIUH) in response to concerns about healthcare delivery in underserved multi-ethnic communities in America. AAIUH is one of only two organizations to which he extended his name.
Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are home to some of the City’s highest incidences of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and HIV. AAIUH works to eliminate these disparities by designing, implementing, and evaluating community-based initiatives that address the social determinants of health in some of the borough’s most vulnerable neighborhoods, like East Flatbush, where 90 percent of the people who died of COVID were black.
AAIUH honors individuals and organizations at its Annual SportsBall Black Tie & Sneakers Gala, recognizing their contributions to urban communities in health, education, medical research, community service, and philanthropy. Funds raised at SportsBall support the Institute’s innovative community health education programs and research initiatives. This year’s hosts were Good Day New York’s meteorologist Mike Woods and traffic reporter Ines Rosales.
This year’s honorees included Lori Stokes, nine-time Emmy-winning and recently-retired FOX 5 News anchor, Anthony Welters, CINQCARE founder and chief executive officer, and Downstate’s own Kitaw Demissie, M.D., Ph.D., School of Public Health dean, and academic, public health leader and researcher.
Anthony Welters spoke about his inspiration and work to eliminate health disparities--an interest which stemmed from his mother’s death—when he was eight—of a preventable health-related cause. He thanked and acknowledged fellow honoree Lori Stokes, whose late father, Congressman Louis Stokes, was a civil rights champion and healthcare activist.
Lori Stokes can likely trace her interest in healthcare advocacy as the daughter of Rep. Louis Stokes. His work as a respected healthcare activist was well-known in the halls of Congress; he was an early supporter of federal government intervention in the fight against HIV/AIDS and regularly advocated for more funding to improve access to healthcare for working-class Americans. Now retired from news reporting, Ms. Stokes will join the prestigious Cleveland Clinic Board.
Kitaw Demissie, M.D., Ph.D., our School of Public Health dean, is a nationally recognized academic public health leader and researcher in health disparities and minority health, perinatal health, and cancer. His recent work identifies the social and molecular causes of breast cancer disparities in African American women, many of whom have some of the worst health outcomes of the disease.
I salute and congratulate these honorees whose commitment to eliminating healthcare disparities and serving as a voice for underserved communities make them powerful advocates.
Congratulations to Marilyn Fraser, M.D., Arthur Ashe Institute chief executive officer, and my fellow AAIUH Board of Directors on another successful event honoring the legacy of a great man who understood the importance of research, education, and care for medically-underserved communities.
See images of the SportsBall Gala here.
Tags: Arthur Ashe, Events