The Miller School campus is celebrating Black History Month this year through numerous events, including lectures, spoken word poetry, a "diversity diner" featuring food from different cultures in the African diaspora, and a bone marrow drive, all organized by the medical school's chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA). This Thursday at noon, "CNN Hero" Andrea Ivory will address "Breast Cancer and Its Disparities" and a week later, SNMA members will encourage minority high school students to make the Miller School part of their future during "The Minority Candidate" forum.

"The goal of the Student National Medical Association's Black History Month celebration is to increase cultural awareness, recognize the importance of diversity, and honor the contributions of blacks in medicine," said Rosanne M. Henry, second-year medical student and president of SNMA. "We welcome and encourage students, faculty, and administrators of all cultural and ethnic backgrounds to participate in this educational and inspirational month of events."

"We live through what we give," William F. Austin, CEO and founder of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, told a packed audience this month at the Eden Roc Hotel, where more than 130 local children and young adults received free hearing aids and tested the gifts at a concert featuring two American Idol stars.

Austin came to Miami as part of the global mission of Starkey Laboratories, Inc. to tackle children's hearing loss. The mission, made possible with the support of NFL alumni and other corporate sponsors affiliated with the 2010 Super Bowl, and the University of Miami Ear Institute, provided hearing aids at no cost to hearing-impaired recipients aged 4 to 22. They were identified by school audiologists and teachers from Monroe, Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

On March 1, smoking will no longer be allowed on the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial campus. To understand the impact of this new policy, all faculty and staff at the University of Miami medical campus are encouraged to fill out a brief online questionnaire. The survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete, and is completely anonymous and voluntary. All medical campus faculty and staff will receive an e-mail invitation with the survey link. Please look for this e-mail, and take a few minutes to provide your opinions. For more information, contact Noella Dietz, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology, at 305-243-5756.