President Kington Delivers Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Lecture

Published:

February 06, 2019

Poster promoting Raynard Kington speech at University of Iowa MLK event

President Raynard S. Kington delivered the University of Iowa Health Care Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Lecture Jan. 23 in Iowa City.

While recognizing the legacy of Dr. King, Kington spoke in part about the difficulty of social justice work:

Good work, social justice work, healing work—any work that aims to relieve the suffering of other humans— is often chaotic and brutal and unpredictably challenging. When our hearts are in the right place, it is no guarantee that the work ahead will be easy. It is no guarantee that those we consider allies will always be our allies. It is not even a guarantee that the accomplishments we achieve, the progress we make, will be permanent.

Raynard S. Kington delivers speech at MLK event

Kington has served as president of Grinnell College since 2010. Prior to joining Grinnell, he held multiple positions at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including principal deputy director and acting NIH director. Prior to the NIH, he was a division director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a senior scientist at the RAND Corporation.

Kington is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, where he serves on its governing council. He also serves on the board of directors of the American Council on Education.