As a Cornell Urban Scholar last summer, Nicky Chopra '09 worked with two nonprofits in West Harlem trying to bring health care access to low-income people.

From that eye-opening experience, the biology and religious studies major decided she wanted to help students -- particularly those, like herself, with ambitions for the medical field -- learn the complexity of the U.S. health care system.

Since then, Chopra and Nishant Trivedi '09, along with a board of 15 other students, have been planning a weeklong series to highlight issues of health care in America from the perspectives of physicians, patients, economists and policymakers. The conference, called Sick in America, will take place on campus April 20-24, with a final event April 30 in New York City.

"We're doing this because we realize there is a very large group of students and community members at Cornell, and in the greater Ithaca community, interested in health care as a topic," Chopra said. "It is such a complex system, that even though people are interested in it, they find it daunting."

The keynote event featuring pediatric cardiologist Arthur Garson will take place April 20 at 7:15 p.m. in Goldwin Smith Hall's Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium. Garson is executive vice president and provost at the University of Virginia and the author of "Health Care Half Truths: Too Many Myths, Not Enough Reality." Garson's talk also will serve as the inaugural event for the Cornell University Presidential Speakers Series on Current Affairs, a new series sponsored by President David Skorton.

Each day of the weeklong event will feature a different theme, including health and wellness, translational medicine, and art and medicine. Events include:

• A health fair in Willard Straight Hall, April 21, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.;
• A "Sick Around the World" documentary screening and panel discussion on health care economics with Cornell policy analysis and management professors Kosali Simons and Sean Nicholson, as well as area physicians and hospital administrators, April 21, 6:15 p.m. in Goldwin Smith Hall's Lewis Auditorium;
• A lecture by William Trochim, director of evaluation for the Weill Cornell Clinical and Translational Science Center, and panel discussion on the burgeoning role of translational medicine -- a new approach that focuses on interventional epidemiology and bridges the gap between laboratory research and medical practice, April 22 at 6:15 p.m. in Lewis Auditorium;
• A talk by photographer and filmmaker Aaron Deemer on using these media as tools for health care and policy change, April 23 at 6:15 p.m. in Lewis Auditorium;
• A session on how students can get involved in various branches of health at Cornell, in Ithaca and abroad, with representatives from Cayuga Medical Center and the Ithaca Free Clinic, April 24 at 3 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium.

Also on April 24, the winner of an Art in Medicine photo contest will be announced. Submissions of up to three photos, on anything to do with health care, are welcome through April 12.

The series will close with an April 30 business and medicine symposium at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. Hosted by WCMC and the Johnson School, the symposium will feature a panel at 3 p.m. on the state of collaboration between industry, academia and government on global public health needs. A second panel discussion, at 5 p.m., will dissect evolving reimbursement practices and what it means to be a doctor.

The New York City event will be simulcast in B10 Sage Hall. For more information, visit http://www.cctec.cornell.edu/bms/.

For information on the entire series, visit http://www.sickinamerica.com/.