Registration is open for the 2024 Minnesota Rural Health Conference, which will be held on June 17-18 at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. The theme of this year’s conference is “Working Together, Building Our Future.”
The two-day event is designed to support, connect and inspire rural health professionals and leaders from across the state — health care executives, providers, educators, health professions students, state government officials, policy analysts and researchers, elected officials, community members and others — as they work toward the goal of building healthy communities.
The conference features more than 20 interactive sessions: two keynote speakers, two plenary sessions, the Minnesota Rural Health Association Policy Forum, an awards ceremony and a total of 15 breakout sessions.
Dr. Amer Kaissi, an author, executive coach and award-winning professor of healthcare administration at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, is scheduled to deliver the conference’s first keynote address on Monday, June 17. Kaissi, the author of two books on leadership, including the recent “Humbitious: The Power of Low-Ego, High-Drive Leadership,” will speak on “Leading in Times of Change: How Leaders Can Balance Humility with Ambition.”
Dr. Robsan Tura, the assistant commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH) Health Equity Bureau, will present on efforts to advance rural health equity during the event’s second keynote address on Tuesday, June 18. Tura has nearly 20 years of experience as a public health leader, researcher and educator in both the U.S. and overseas. At MDH, he supervises key divisions — Health Equity Strategy and Innovation; the offices of American Indian Health, African American Health, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging; and the Health Equity Performance and Research Section — and serves as the department’s lead for proactive and strategic health equity partnerships. His talk is titled, “Rural Health Equity: Building It Together.”
The conference’s two plenary sessions include panel discussions on the rural health workforce (June 17) and behavioral and mental health services (June 18).
Policy leaders are scheduled to discuss Minnesota’s top rural health priorities and challenge rural health professionals to take next steps to make the state a healthier place to live and work at the Minnesota Rural Health Association Policy Forum on June 17. The forum’s speakers are still to be announced.
In addition, the 2023 Minnesota Rural Health Awards — the Rural Health Hero Award, the Rural Health Team Award and the Rural Health Lifetime Achievement Award — and the Minnesota Rural Health Association’s Emerging Rural Health Leader Award will be handed out during a session on the conference’s second day.
The conference’s breakout sessions — organized along four tracks (Leadership and Workforce Development, Access to Care, Behavioral and Mental Health, and Process Improvement) and scheduled for both days — feature presentations from academic researchers, consultants, practitioners in the field and state officials on topics ranging from Minnesota produce prescription programs and telehealth to mental health crisis support and the use of rural promotores. Presentations highlight innovative solutions and best practices.
The conference is hosted by the Minnesota Office of Rural Health and Primary Care, the Minnesota Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Resource Center.
For more information about the conference — including registration, scholarships, an overview of conference sessions, and exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities — visit minnesotaruralhealthconference.org. Questions about the conference can be directed to ruralhealthconference@ruralcenter.org.
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