Mariel Hemingway
At Home With Mariel Hemingway, Her Boyfriend Bobby Williams And
Michael Pollan
U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy
Rosie Swale Pope
Good health is not just practiced and encouraged at the Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany. It’s also discussed in depth by speakers with a diverse array of backgrounds.
Guest speakers at the center have included author and activist Michael Pollan, known for books such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma focused on nature and nutrition; actress Mariel Hemingway, who has become a prominent advocate for mental health care; former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, whose own problems with addiction have informed his more recent work fighting it; and adventurer and runner Rosie Swale-Pope, who sailed a small boat from England to the U.S.
Pollan, Hemingway and Kennedy were brought to town for the Jefferson Series, coordinated by the New Albany Community Foundation, and Healthy New Albany worked with the foundation to arrange for their engagements at the center.
Kristin Ferguson, business development and corporate partnership manager for Healthy New Albany, says hosting the speakers is part of the Heit Center’s overall purpose to encourage meaningful conversations and awareness to life’s choices, with a special emphasis on health and wellness.
“Our purpose, as a whole, is to create a culture of health in our community,” she says. “The lecture series is one way in which we are meeting this mission. We host a series of continued education lectures to build healthful discussions with experts both nationally and locally in their field.”
The center is working on booking speakers for 2018. The schedule can be found at www.heitcenter.com.
Tessa Flattum is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
