In 2000, the University established an Urban Health Institute (UHI) that would serve as an interface between the University and the Baltimore community. The UHI was a principal recommendation of the Urban Health Council, a group of community residents, clergy, local leaders, business representatives, city officials, and faculty, staff, and students from the Johns Hopkins Institutions. Dr. William Brody, president of Johns Hopkins University, had charged the group with exploring ways that the research, teaching and clinical expertise of the University could be better harnessed for the benefit of the residents of East Baltimore. Initially, UHI operated under the interim directorship of Thomas P. O’Toole, MD, until June 2001, when Claude Earl Fox, MD, MPH, was appointed director. He ran the UHI until December 2005. In May 2006, at the request of the Provost and President of the University, Robert Blum, MD, PhD, MPH, was asked to serve as the Interim Director of the Institute and was appointed permanent director effective July 1, 2007. Over the past year, a series of conversations have been held with Hopkins faculty and staff, community leaders, politicians, ministers and community residents on health issues and priorities. In our attempts to increase understanding of pathways to survival, conversations are also taking place with women from East and West Baltimore who have experienced and survived homelessness, incarceration, violence and addiction. The Abell Foundation awarded UHI a planning grant to develop a blueprint for changing the trajectory of children, youth, and families. With another grant from Abell, the Community Health Worker Program will be able to link health workers with physicians through the application of new technologies. Through collaborations with East Baltimore Development, Inc. (EBDI), new health and development programs are being created in East Baltimore, including a new grant award from Friends of the Family to establish a family support center focused on parents with children under three. In another collaboration with EBDI, a new planning grant has been awarded through Atlantic Philanthropies to establish a health campus and a community school that serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. From October 31 to November 2, 2007, we hosted the 6th Annual International Conference on Urban Health. The theme of which was "Harnessing the Power of Technology to Achieve Behavior Change and Improve Urban Health." This annual meeting of the International Society for Urban Health is intended to bring together scientists, physicians, practitioners and community members in an interdisciplinary setting to share information and network around issues of urban health, both domestically and internationally. For more information on this exciting conference, visit www.icuh2007.com. For information on other projects, please read our January 2008 newsletter. | 
