The Bob Jones University Center for Community and Global Health is hosting its third annual symposium, which will focus on the topic of healthy aging, on Thursday, March 17, in the Davis Room of the Dining Common from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
The symposium will host several guest speakers, including Connie D. Munn, Director of the South Carolina Department of Aging, and Bonnie Noble Silberman, owner of Geriatric Resource Services.
Several BJU faculty members will also be speaking at the symposium, including Stephen Chen, Bernard Kadio, Hannah Benge and Valarie Peterson, all members of the School of Health Professions, and Amy Hicks, the chair of the Division of Health Sciences.
The guest speakers at the symposium will cover the subtopics of the state of aging in South Carolina and facilitating healthy aging through coordinating care and the physiology of aging.
Photo: Melia Covington
The speakers from BJU will analyze age-related changes pertaining to fall risk and speech-related abilities and equity in aging.
Benge, who will be speaking at the event, said that this symposium is the start of a three-year series of symposiums, as opposed to the past two events, which focused on unique topics. “This year starts our theme for the next three years, which is healthy aging,” Benge said.
Benge said that this symposium will focus on the challenges and strategies of healthy aging from the perspective of a health policy maker who works with older adults.
During the lunch break, a group of students will be presenting a poster summarizing a research study they collaborated on, which was aimed at determining the effect of aerobic exercise on vocal intensity and endurance in college-age individuals who are studying voice. The students spent two semesters working on the pilot study.
Katie Butler, a senior kinesiology major and a researcher involved with the study, said that the study was a collaboration between the BJU department of vocal studies and the School of Health Professions.
Moyi Chang, a senior communication disorders major and another student researcher involved with the study, said that she will be discussing the results of the study from a vocal standpoint. “I am a communication disorders major, so I assisted with the pre- and post-treatment measures and the initial analysis of the data that we collected.”
Because of COVID-19, Benge said this symposium is the first one that the public can fully attend in person, as opposed to past years when the public could only attend the symposiums via a Zoom meeting. Benge said the Zoom option is still open to the community,though. “We have global partners in a couple of African, European and South American countries as well as in the U.S., some of whom will be attending through Zoom,” Benge said.“But for those who are local, coming in person, you tend to get a lot more out of it.”