Health for All Inaugural Ball Brings Renowned Speakers and Entertainment to Election's Key Issue
Nine-time Emmy award-winner, Tracey Neale, MC's event with Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Jackson Browne and Graham Nash to highlight the nation's biggest problem: the health of our people
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Health for All Blue Diamond Inaugural Ball announced today the complete line up of speakers for January 20, 2009 at the Smithsonian Institution's Natural History Museum, home of the Hope Diamond.
Prominent health advocates such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director NIAID, NIH; Congressman John Conyers, Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS and Helene Gayle, President of CARE will express their support for health as a human right, as affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Jackson Browne will perform songs from his 40-year career and his latest album that peaked at #2 on Billboard Independent Album last month.
Today in the United States, 45 million people don't have medical insurance. Around the world, billions are deprived of the basic human right to health. Health care was one of the campaign's biggest issues and last month Moveon.org asked its three-million members, 'What is the most important issue for the nation?' The survey concluded that Universal healthcare was the number one choice ahead of the war in Iraq, the environment and even the economy.
Renowned former Washington TV Anchor, Tracey Neale, will co-MC the event. The nine-time EMMY Award-winner, Neale is also the recipient of awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and the Associated Press for Outstanding Journalism. She has been recognized for her health reporting, receiving an Edward R. Murrow Award for her documentary on AIDS in Africa and Award for Excellence from the World Health Organization. Neale is the founder of Veronica's Story, a non-profit dedicated to pediatric AIDS and orphans. The organization is named after a South African girl who passed away before Neale could adopt her. Neale is now the proud parent of twins from Ethiopia: Emebet and Eyasu. Neale looks forward to presiding over the event. She says "I look forward to introducing some of the most passionate and dedicated health-makers from around the world." Joining Neale on stage will be Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association (APHA); Donna Smith, patient and star of SICKO, Dr. Oliver Fein, President, Physicians for a National Health Program; Dean Mike Klag of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health; and Dr. Renee Jenkins, Immediate Past President of the American Association of Pediatricians.
Songwriter Hall of Fame inductee Jackson Browne and GRAMMY-winner Graham Nash--both members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--will headline the entertainment and be introduced by co-MC, Classic Rock 94.7 The Globe DJ Cerphe. Cerphe has been a Washington rock fixture since the '70s. In addition to their enduring legacies as two of the most literate and respected singer-songwriters, Browne and Nash are both known for the social, environmental and political activism they have championed for almost four decades. In 1979, they collaborated on organizing an all-star series of concerts for MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy); in 2004, they both participated in the Vote For Change Tour. With the Health For All Blue Diamond Inaugural Ball, they continue their tradition of raising their voices in support of people across the United States and around the world.
Radia Daoussi, President of The Vineeta Foundation, explains, "A true transformation of the health care system in the United States has never been such an urgent priority. The presidency of Barack Obama offers an historic opportunity for reforming the health care system in the United States and strengthening support for health worldwide."
Event Emissary, a DC-based event planning company, and the Vineeta Foundation, a health and human rights organization, are hosting the Health for All Blue Diamond Ball (www.bluediamondinauguralball.com).
