L to R: Dr. James P. Comer and Congressman Elijah Cummings

During the planning of the 2nd Annual Symposium on the Social Determinants of Health: Action for Equity at Johns Hopkins University, Congressman Elijah Cummings recommended to Robert Blum, MD, MPH, PhD, chair of the JHU's Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the Urban Health Institute, that he invite James P. Comer, MD, MPH to be a panelist. Cummings, who represents Maryland's 7th Congressional District that includes Baltimore where Johns Hopkins is located, had spoken at two national policy institutes convened by Dr. Comer and knew the importance of his work. Dr. Blum also knew and valued Dr. Comer's work and invited him to serve as a panelist at the conference that was held on April 23, 2013 at Shriver Hall on JHU's Homewood Campus.

The focus of the symposium was on "the underlying factors that are the root causes of health inequalities in Baltimore and to identify the evidence based strategies that have been shown to be effective locally and nationally." The symposium organizers put the health inequalities in Baltimore in context: "Only six miles separate the Baltimore neighborhoods of Roland Park and Hollins Market, but they might as well be worlds apart. For one thing, the affluent and educated residents of Roland Park can expect to live 20 years longer on average than their counterparts in Hollins Market."

Sir Michael Marmot, MD, MPH, chair of the World Health Organization Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, gave the keynote speech, "Fair Society, Healthy Lives: Action on the Social Determinants of Health." Congressman Cummings's presentation, "Reducing Inequalities," was followed by facilitated roundtable discussions among conference participants that included community activists and civic leaders, JHU faculty and administrators, philanthropists, and symposium presenters.

There were panels on human capital, race and racism, the interrelationship of place and health status, public policy, and philanthropy. Dr. Comer was on the panel, "Building Human Capital: The Essential Element for Building Equity," that focused on "the centrality of human capital as the critical element for children's success" and strategies to build it. Sarah Hemminger, PhD, founder and CEO of Incentive Mentoring Program, chaired the panel that also included David W. Andrews, PhD, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Education; Courtney Cass, executive director of Baltimore Teach for America; and Cheryl Dorsey, MD, MPP, president of Echoing Green.

Dr. Comer pointed out that the School Development Program was founded with the intent of building human capital; primarily by promoting child and adolescent development. "At that time the consensus among many academics and the media was that low-income families lacked social capital, therefore schools could not promote high-level academic learning. Research is now showing what we have been saying for over 45 years: Schools can give all children what they need to become economically and socially productive citizens."

Dr. Comer advocates for a shift in thinking about community development. "What needs to be understood is that what you want most from community development is to be focused first on promoting well functioning people. The trouble with most community development is that it focuses on infrastructure development and services; secondarily, if at all on people. You can have buildings and services and still not have well functioning families most able to promote well-developed children. To be able to function well families need to be able to earn a living. With adequate income, good family functioning and supportive child development at home, and a school experience that reinforces child development, young people will have the best chance to gain the social and human capital needed to be successful in school, as family and community members, workers and positively contributing citizens in an open democratic society.

"Because of a history of deliberate exclusion, cultural marginality, or isolation some people and groups will need a school and larger community preparatory experience that connects and even pulls them into the economic and social mainstream. Partnership and internship programs exist that show how this can be done."

Dr. James P. Comer, the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center, gave the 2013 Lipsitt-Duchin Lecture in Child and Youth Behavior and Development on May 2, 2013 at Salomon Hall at Brown University. Initiated in 2000, the annual high-profile lecture is endowed by and named for Lewis P. Lipsitt, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Medical Science, and Human Development, and his wife, Edna Duchin.

L to R: Dr. Stephen Buka, Dr. Deborah A. Gist, Dr. Comer, Gigi DiBello,  and Dr. Lewis Lipsitt

In his speech, "Reflections on Race, Child Development, and School Reform," Dr. Comer talked about the importance of applying knowledge of the developmental sciences to education so that all children can be success in school and in life.

"As a child psychiatrist from a low-income, African-American background, I have had a peculiar experience with regard to race issues and school reform. Also, I have significant concerns about the way the academic community carries out research and intervention or services in schools serving poor and marginalized, particularly racially isolated, schools. I use my childhood, professional development, and career experiences in medicine, public health, and school change to link the science of human development to school reform and improvement; and to raise issues about the balance between quantitative and qualitative research."

The discussants were Rhode Island education commissioner, Dr. Deborah A. Gist, and Gigi DiBello, MEd, head of school at Sophia Academy, an independent middle school for girls in Providence. Elizabeth Burke Bryant, JD, the executive director of Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, moderated the Q&A portion of the event.

Dr. Comer said that he was "particularly pleased that the Commissioner of Education was a discussant; and had begun her career as a teacher of young children. As an Academy head serving non-mainstream children, Ms. DiBello related my discussion of development with the experiences of her students in a powerful way. Both were very familiar with and appreciative of our work; back to their years in college."