Half of Rochester鈥檚 children 鈥� more than 25,000 boys and girls under the age of 18 鈥� live in poverty, but Edward J. Doherty thinks that health care providers can help.

Doherty, former Vice President for Community Programs at the and author of a series of special reports on the area鈥檚 poverty issues, will speak at the Fifteenth Annual Anne E. Dyson Child Advocacy Forum at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, March 4, in the Class of 鈥�62 Auditorium at the 麻豆视频.

The Dyson Day lecture, hosted by the , will explore Doherty鈥檚 recent reports for RACF. The first, published in 2013, detailed the levels of in the Rochester area, and revealed the city to be the fifth poorest in the country. A second report, published earlier this year, followed up on those findings and further explored the level of extreme poverty and child poverty in the city, while against cities with similar demographics.

鈥淩ochester鈥檚 extreme levels of poverty are issues that everyone who lives or works here should care about,鈥� said , assistant professor of pediatrics at UR Medicine鈥檚 Golisano Children鈥檚 Hospital and executive director of the Hoekelman Center. 鈥淧overty in childhood is one of the major determinants of disease throughout the lifespan. This is everyone鈥檚 problem, and we鈥檙e doing our part to make sure it鈥檚 something that physicians are fully aware of.鈥�

Doherty will present highlights from the reports, providing perspective on how Rochesterians can help break the vicious cycle of poverty and illness.

Mark Hare, a former columnist for the Democrat & Chronicle who wrote extensively about income inequality in the Rochester area and beyond, will introduce Doherty at the lecture. After the lecture, from 9 to 11 a.m., residents from the , along with Hoekelman Center faculty and staff, will present their community projects in a poster section in the Flaum Atrium.

Both events are free and open to the public. The Class of 鈥�62 Auditorium and Flaum Atrium are on the Medical Center鈥檚 ground floor, near the entrance to the School of Medicine and Dentistry. For more information, call (585) 273-3737.