Research & Service

In late October, 126 global public health leaders participated in a unique working conference at Columbia University co-chaired by the Mailman’s School’s Dean Linda Fried, MD, MPH, and Richard Parker, PhD, editor of the Journal of Global Public Health and director of the School’s Center for Gender, Sexuality and Health.  

The conference was planned and implemented by the School's Global Health Initiative and co-sponsored by the Association of Schools of Public Health and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Attendees were asked to tackle key issues regarding the world’s changing health needs and the essential role that the field of public health must play in addressing them.

A Truly Global Representation  

Thought leaders, policy makers, researchers, advocates, and educators from 33 countries attended the conference including deans of accredited schools of public health from North America and Europe. Conference planners at the Mailman School took the unusual step of ensuring that participants were drawn equally from the southern and northern hemispheres in order to reflect a truly global perspective on this century’s greatest public health challenges.

“This conference was an exciting first step in ensuring that public health leadership – in its many different guises – is at the table in shaping responses that affect the health and well-being of populations both at the local and global level,” said Linda Fried, dean of the Mailman School. “We are extremely proud to have brought together this remarkable group of global leaders in public health who equally represent the two hemispheres.”

Peter Piot, dean of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, observed that the meeting was notable for bringing together truly diverse perspectives as opposed to being "U.S. driven."

“Be Bold and Intrepid”

The opening event for the three-day conference honored the legacy of Allan Rosenfield, the former dean of the Mailman School and a pioneering leader in the field of global maternal health. Organized by faculty members Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, and Lynn Freedman, JD, MPH, the tribute featured a keynote address  by Stephen Lewis, co-director, AIDS-Free World, an excerpt from a documentary on maternal health created by Christy Turlington Burns, and comments by Dr. El-Sadr, Dr. Freedman and others who continue to address the challenges of women dying in childbirth and HIV-AIDS around the world – issues that Dean Rosenfield championed during his lifetime. 

Judith Rodin, PhD, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, opened the conference with Dean Fried. Dr Rodin discussed the innovations and public health success of the 20th Century and the on-going challenges facing populations today. She charged conference participants “to be bold and intrepid, the times demand it.”

Working in small groups over the next two days, participants took the first steps toward setting an agenda to address challenges in global public health. An agenda that builds on the conference's momentum is under development.

Videos of the proceedings and key papers are available on the conference website.

See a Q&A on the conference with Alastair Ager, director of the Mailman School’s Global Health Initiative.

November 4, 2010