BDN Western Regional Conference

Health and Safety Protocols

Last updated: February 20, 2023

The health and safety of our conference participants remains our highest priority.  The Black Doctoral Network (BDN) is monitoring the on-going COVID-19 Pandemic and is prepared to manage our in-person events with the health, safety, and well-being of our attendees, presenters, exhibitors, sponsors, speakers, staff and guests in mind.

Proof of vaccination will not be required to attend the BDN conference and conference-related events. All participants attending the BDN Western Regional Conference and corresponding events, whether a presenter, attendee, exhibitor, staff, speaker, volunteer, or guest, are encouraged to be fully vaccinated. We also encourage individuals who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 booster prior to attending to be boosted.

BDN strongly encourages individuals to be tested for COVID prior to traveling to any BDN in-person events. Individuals who test positive should stay home and cancel their registration. No refunds will be granted starting April 1, 2023. If you test positive for COVID-19 prior to the conference and need to withdraw your participation, please email contact@BlackPhDNetwork.comas soon as possible so that we can make any necessary schedule changes.

If you are on-site and have knowledge of exposure, a temperature, experience COVID-like symptoms (click here to review list of symptoms) or test positive for COVID-19, you are expected to leave the conference, notify BDN staff via email at contact@BlackPhDNetwork.com, and seek immediate medical attention. BDN will not be requiring in-person participants to take same day rapid tests or providing access to those tests. For more information on COVID-19 testing in California visit https://covid19.ca.gov/get-tested.

BDN will follow the requirements of the city of Los Angeles and state of California in regard to masks. However, all participants at BDN in-person events are strongly encouraged to wear masks with at least 3 layers of fabric (e.g. KN95, N95) during all events. Masks are encouraged to be worn at all times, except while actively presenting or eating/drinking, and in any venue that is considered a BDN event space (both on-site and off-site venues). Masks should cover both the mouth and nose. We ask that participants honor the requests of others to mask up and/or maintain physical distancing.

A participant’s failure to follow the BDN conference health and safety measures may result in loss of entry to the BDN conference and conference-related events, including forfeiting paid registration and/or fees and access to future BDN events.

These health and safety protocols may be modified at any time by BDN based on its professional judgment about how best to protect the health and safety of conference participants.

See the CDC webpage for the most updated information about masks, COVID-19 vaccination and prevention.

COVID-19 Notice and Waiver

The Black Doctoral Network (BDN) will require participants to understand that in-person conferences are taking place during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Participants will be asked to click "I understand" following reading the wavier information. If you are a participant in one of our events, you will be asked to check an "I understand" button for this waiver. The waiver language is listed below:

COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization and is extremely contagious. BDN has put in place preventative measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 at our various events; however, BDN cannot guarantee that attendees will not become infected with COVID-19. By registering for an in-person BDN event, I (and on behalf of my heirs and successors),

• acknowledge the contagious nature of COVID-19;
• agree to comply with all COVID-related policies and procedures that may be established by BDN, California State University, Los Angeles, including, but not limited to mask-wearing requirements;
• voluntarily assume the risk that I may be exposed to or infected by COVID-19 or any other communicable diseases by attending an in-person BDN event which exposure or infection may come from the actions, omissions, or negligence of myself and others, including, but not limited to, BDN employees, volunteers, and program participants and their families;
• acknowledge that such exposure or infection may result in personal injury, illness, permanent disability, and death; and
• agree to not attend the BDN Western Regional Conference or conference-related events if I feel ill or had recent exposure to a COVID-19 case.  Moreover, I will immediately stop participating in the BDN event(s) if, once at the conference, I have a temperature, am experiencing COVID-19-like symptoms, or have been exposed to an individual with COVID-19.
• hereby release, covenant not to sue, discharge, and hold harmless BDN, its employees, agents, and representatives, of and from any injury to me resulting from being exposed to or infected by COVID-19 or any other communicable diseases and/or pandemics in connection with my attendance at an in-person BDN event (including claims based on the actions, omissions, or negligence of BDN, its employees, agents, and representatives).