Flint water crisis activist to speak at TU Commencement

April 25, 2022

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, M.D., will serve as Towson University Commencement speaker during the 2022 ceremonies at Unitas Stadium in May.
 
She is a physician and public health activist who persisted through scrutiny and character attacks to report the Flint, Michigan drinking water crisis, which started in 2014 when lead from aging pipes leaked into the water supply and exposed around 100,000 people—including 6,000–12,000 children—to elevated lead levels.
 
Hanna-Attisha will address Fisher College of Science & Mathematics and College of Fine Arts & Communication graduates on Wed., May 25, opening three days of Commencement celebrations. She will also receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
 
“We are honored to welcome Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha to campus,” says TU President Kim Schatzel. “Her courage and determination as an activist for vulnerable children, underrepresented families and the entire Flint community is an inspiration and has changed thousands of lives. As our graduates celebrate the culmination of their studies and research, they will be reminded of their call to be effective, ethical leaders and engaged citizens for Maryland and beyond."
 
Hanna-Attisha has testified four times before the United States Congress and was awarded the Freedom of Expression Courage Award by PEN America. The pediatrician was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and recognized as one of USA Today’s Women of the Century. Most recently, she received the 2020 CDC Foundation’s Fries Prize for Improving Health.
 
Her 2018 book, “What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City,” was one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books 2018. In fall 2020, Hanna-Attisha virtually joined TU for a presentation and moderated discussion on how her research amplified national conversations around environmental justice. 
 
Hanna-Attisha is also founder and director of the Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, an innovative and model public health program in Flint. 
 
She has been a frequent contributor to national media outlets, including the New York Times and Washington Post and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, BBC and countless other outlets championing the cause of children in Flint and beyond. She is the founding donor of the Flint Child Health and Development Fund (flintkids.org). 
 
With concentrations in environmental health and health policy, Hanna-Attisha received her bachelor’s degree and Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan. She completed her medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and her residency at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, where she was chief resident. She is currently a Charles Stewart Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health and an associate professor of pediatrics and human development at her medical school alma mater.
 
The title of university Commencement speaker is bestowed on one individual each year in a rotation among the colleges. Hanna-Attisha will speak at the 9 a.m. ceremony—the first of three Commencement ceremonies to be held during the week-long celebration of winter 2021 and spring 2022 graduates. 

Prior TU Commencement speakers include leading health care executive Nancy M. Schlichting in 2021, educator and theorist Gloria Ladson-Billings in 2019 and thought leader in race relations and higher education Beverly Daniel Tatum in 2018.