Advancing Solutions for Health Equity!

NMA Hosts 2026 Colloquium on African American Health

Photo courtesy of The National Medical Association (NMA)

 

The National Medical Association (NMA), the nation’s largest and oldest organization representing African American physicians and their patients, is convening leading clinicians, researchers, and health advocates for its 2026 National Colloquium on African American Health, taking place at The Morrow Hotel in Washington, D.C. The event started on Thursday and concludes today.

Guided by this year’s theme, “The New Reconstruction: Mobilizing Healthcare Justice for a New America, Our Patients, Providers, and Policy,” the colloquium serves as a national platform to advance solutions addressing health disparities and systemic inequities impacting Black communities and other historically underserved populations.

Through a series of dynamic panels, workshops, and collaborative sessions, attendees are engaging in solutions-driven dialogue on critical topics including chronic disease, artificial intelligence in healthcare, workforce development, and the intersection of policy and patient care. Sessions throughout the convening have explored innovative approaches to managing conditions disproportionately affecting Black Americans, ensuring equity in emerging health technologies, and strengthening trust between providers and communities.

A key component of this year’s colloquium is direct advocacy. NMA physician leaders organized into advocacy teams and walked across Capitol Hill, not only as clinicians but as champions for their patients and communities, meeting with lawmakers to address pressing healthcare issues and advance equitable policy solutions. As part of these efforts, the NMA presented Senator Cory Booker with an award recognizing his continued support for advancing Black health and healthcare equity. Moreover, the NMA hosted the Gary C. Dennis, M.D. 25th Annual Health Policy Awards Dinner, where it honored leaders in health and advocacy. Award recipients included Althea Maybank, M.D., M.P.H., who received the Louis Stokes Health Advocacy Award; Monique De Four Jones, M.D., M.B.A., M.S., who received the James M. Whittico, Jr., M.D. Community Advocate Award; and Dionne Warwick, recipient of the NMA President’s Distinguished Achievement Award.

“This colloquium is more than a convening, it is a leadership training ground and an advocacy forum,” said Roger A. Mitchell Jr., President of the National Medical Association. “It is where we conduct focused exploration of the policies that shape our patients’ lives and develop positions that will be advanced at the local, state, and federal levels. In this New Reconstruction, our patients are not statistics, they are sacred. Our providers are not merely practitioners; they are advocates and architects of justice. And our policy is not paperwork, it is power.”

As the colloquium concludes today, the NMA underscores the importance of sustained collaboration between clinicians, policymakers, and community leaders to transform healthcare delivery and outcomes nationwide. The insights and strategies developed during the convening are expected to inform both clinical practice and policy conversations well beyond the event.