Sixth annual Beyond the Knife event hosted by the Department of Surgery will take place Feb. 5

BUFFALO, N.Y. –The University at Buffalo’s sixth annual Beyond the Knife Lecture in Social Justice and Health Equity — titled “How do we balance the scales of health equity? The impact of the providers” — will take place on Thursday, Feb. 5.

Andrea Hayes-Dixon, MD, the first Black woman to serve as dean of the Howard University College of Medicine, will give the keynote talk. Prior to being named dean in 2022, she was chair of Howard’s Department of Surgery. In 2004, she became the first Black woman in the U.S. to be board certified in pediatric surgery.

Free and open to the public, the event will take place in-person and virtually. It will begin with a reception at 5 p.m. to be followed by the lecture and panel discussion starting at 5:45 p.m. The program will conclude at 7:15 p.m. with a reception. The event takes place in Room 2220, the M&T Lecture Hall, in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, 955 Main St., Buffalo.

Registration, both in-person and virtual, is available at this link.

The Department of Surgery in the Jacobs School established the endowed Beyond the Knife lectureship following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 to engage the Jacobs School and the Western New York community in the difficult conversations surrounding racism and health care in the U.S.

“The Department of Surgery is delighted to present the sixth annual Beyond the Knife Endowed Lecture in Social Justice and Health Equity—and honored to host a surgeon of Dean Hayes-Dixon’s caliber and commitment,” says Steven Schwaitzberg, MD, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and chair of the UB Department of Surgery. “This event is an opportunity to share knowledge and best practices, and to think together about how providers can best serve our neighbors.”

Following Hayes-Dixon’s talk, a panel will discuss the impact of the pipelines of physicians, nurses and dentists in getting to health equity, the roles of Howard University and historically Black health care colleges, as well as that of predominantly white institutions in addressing the provider pipeline. Panel members are:

  • Allison Brashear, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean, Jacobs School
  • Jamal B. Williams, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, Jacobs School
  • Rhonda Wilson, LPN, founder and president, Buffalo Black Nurses, Inc.
  • Thomas Ward, PhD, dean, School of Arts and Sciences, Farmingdale State College

Claudine Ewing, WGRZ-TV news anchor, will moderate.

“The Beyond the Knife Lectureship challenges us to confront inequities with honesty, rigor and compassion,” says Brashear.

“Bringing leaders like Dr. Hayes‑Dixon—who has advanced health equity at the national level – inspires our faculty, students and trainees to push for systemic change, here in Buffalo and beyond,” she says. “Her historic deanship stands as a milestone for the profession, and her leadership reminds us that representation at the highest levels drives genuine institutional transformation, helping our schools become more equitable, our policies more inclusive, and our students better prepared to care for every community.”

In addition to the Beyond the Knife lecture series, the UB Department of Surgery works with local middle schools and high schools via their innovative Drone STEM hands-on educational program. The department also provides free foot care and vascular screenings in trusted neighborhood spaces through its Kickstart Buffalo events.