David R. Williams will be the keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Banquet.
David R. Williams, an internationally recognized authority on social influences on health, will be the keynote speaker at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Banquet on February 6 at 5:30 p.m. in the Yawkey Center Murray Function Room.
The banquet鈥攁 major event of the Boston College academic year that brings together administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of the University community鈥攚ill culminate in the presentation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship, which recognizes a 51茶馆 junior who has demonstrated superior academic achievement, extracurricular leadership, community service, and involvement with the African American community and African American issues.
This year鈥檚 scholarship candidates are Daniel Adedeji, Kathryn Destin, Berlindyne Elie, Langston Swafford, and Shakalah Thompson.
Williams is the Florence and Laura Norman Professor of Public Health and chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is also a professor of African and African American Studies and sociology at Harvard University. The author of more than 450 scientific papers, Williams has pursued research to heighten understanding of the ways in which race, socioeconomic status, stress, racism, health behavior, and religious involvement can affect physical and mental health.
The Everyday Discrimination Scale Williams developed鈥攁 comprehensive series of questions to assess an individual鈥檚 experiences involving potential discrimination in various situations and contexts, including education, housing, and the workplace鈥攊s one of the most widely used measures of discrimination in health studies. He has served as the staff director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation鈥檚 Commission to Build a Healthier America and as a key scientific advisor to the award-winning PBS film series, 鈥淯nnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?鈥�
Williams has received lifetime distinguished contribution awards from the American Sociological Association, the American Psychological Association, and the New York Academy of Medicine. His research has been featured by such outlets as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, A51茶馆 Evening News, CNN, PBS, C-SPAN, and the Discovery Channel.
For more information on the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship, see .
University Communications | January 2020