2019 Greenfield Peace Writing Scholarship Awards Ceremony

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We hope that you will join us, the high school student winners of our 2019 Greenfield Peace Writing Scholarship, and our keynote speaker Dr. Brian Gibbs, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion at Oregon Health & Science University, for an evening of reflection and engagement on systemic racism, health, and peace on Friday, April 26th at 6:00 PM at Celebration Tabernacle Church (8131 North Denver Avenue in Portland).

This year's scholarship question was "How can you work against systemic racism to help make our world more healthy and peaceful?" We received a record-breaking 226 entries from high school juniors and seniors from throughout Oregon. We express our sincere appreciation to all of the students who submitted entries and to everyone who helped us publicize this opportunity.

Watch the live stream of the event here!

Visit this page for reflections and photographs from the event

From left to right: Jack Hill, Iman Pearce, and Alyssia Maxwell.

Our 2019 Greenfield Peace Writing Scholarship Winners

First Place: Jack Hill of Westview High School in Portland, Oregon

Second Place: Iman Pearce of De La Salle North Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon

Third Place: Alyssia Maxwell of Parkrose High School in Portland, Oregon

Our 2019 Greenfield Peace Writing Scholarship Judges

Robert Goldman, MD, Oregon PSR Peace Working Group Member
Shea Lott, PhD, Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor at Oregon Health Sciences University
Olivia Olivia, Writer and Poet
Anissa Pemberton, Justice-based Transition & Equity Organizer at 350PDX, Funds Development Director at PDX Alliance for Self Care
Janaira Ramirez, Oregon Just Transition Alliance Organizer at OPAL

This event is FREE and open to the public, and light refreshments will be available. Donations to support Oregon PSR will be gratefully accepted.

Artwork above by Ameya Marie, Portland-based artist and activist.

More about our Keynote Speaker

Dr. Brian Gibbs (pictured here) serves as Vice President for Equity and Inclusion at Oregon Health & Science University. In this position he serves as the chief diversity officer, overseeing the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and is responsible for institutional diversity and inclusion initiatives, including the Unconscious Bias Campus-wide Initiative.

Prior to OHSU, he served as associate vice chancellor for diversity for the University of New Mexico Health Science Campus. There, he led initiatives ranging from advancing the quality of faculty mentorship training to promoting cultural competency and facilitating institution-wide and community partnerships to improve pathways to a more diverse and informed culturally competent workforce.

Prior to his work at UNM, Dr. Gibbs served as the Associate Dean for Diversity and Cultural Competence at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Early in his career, he spent ten years as the founder and director of the Program to Eliminate Health Disparities at the Harvard School of Public Health, where he was a senior research scientist within the Department of Health Policy and Management. He was the principal investigator for “Breaking It Down: Our Health Our Way,” a pilot initiative, funded by the Education Network to Advance Cancer Clinical Trials to translate cancer clinical trials into a valuable and accessible community resource. Dr. Gibbs also served as the center director, community outreach, intervention co-director, and co-investigator for two consecutive NIH-funded National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Centers of Excellence.

Dr. Gibbs received his PhD from Brandeis University, where he was a Pew Health Policy Fellow, and completed post-doctoral training at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Gibbs received his Masters in Public Administration from California State University Dominguez Hills, and his Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from Eastern Michigan University. He practiced as an Occupational therapist for 10 years in Los Angeles.

On the personal side, Dr. Gibbs is a native of Saginaw, Michigan. He enjoys spending time with his wife and family, traveling, being outdoors and listening to jazz music.