Health Policy Expert Daniel E. Dawes Will Deliver 25th Annual Atlas Week Signature Symposium Address
04/03/2025
Health Equity and Policy expert, Daniel Dawes, J.D., will be the 2025 Atlas Week Signature Symposium Speaker.
The 25th Annual Atlas Week Signature Symposium will be held on Thursday, April 10 at 5:30 p.m. in Busch Student Center Wool Ballrooms. The Atlas Week Signature Symposium is presented by internationally renowned speakers who have dedicated their lives to issues of political and social justice.
Dawes is a widely known health equity and policy expert, educator, and researcher who currently serves as Senior Vice President, Global Health, and is the founding Dean of the School of Global Health at Meharry Medical College, which is the first school of its kind in the United States. Before that, he served as executive director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine and is a professor of health law, policy and management.
His scholarship and leadership, particularly the political determinants of health framework that he pioneered, have resulted in increased policies and laws prioritizing health equity. By tackling upstream determinants of health, he has ventured into such uncharted territory as the intersection between equity and the social and political determinants of health to change the course of domestic and global policies for the better.
Dawes’ work focuses on health reform, health equity, mental/behavioral health inequities, social and political determinants of health, poverty, and health system transformation. His work bridges research, technology, healthcare, population health and public health — the translation of research discoveries into all communities, including under-resourced, vulnerable, and marginalized communities.
Dawes brings a forward-thinking, inclusive, and multidisciplinary approach to address issues impacting diverse populations in urban and rural communities in our progressively complex health system, including a national study examining the health and economic impact of mental health inequities in the United States and a major research project which created the nation’s first health equity tracker.
Among his many achievements, he was an instrumental figure in developing and negotiating the Mental Health Parity Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, and an architect of the Affordable Care Act’s health equity focused provisions, among other landmark federal policies.