November 12, 2009
07:00 PM - 08:30 PM

Pless Hall Lounge

82 Washington Square East

(Entrance is on Washington Place)

Today 4,000 children died because they couldn’t get a drink of clean water. Through the inspiring story of Charles Banda – a local fireman turned waterman who has drilled more than 800 wells for the people of Malawi – we see how clean water is a solution to many of the problems in sub-Saharan Africa and other impoverished regions. From hunger and poverty to women’s equality and population control, HIV/AIDS to environmental sustainability, Banda makes it clear that the best way to empower people in developing nations, and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), is by putting water first.

A Film and Discussion Featuring:

Amy Hart, Filmmaker
Director, NYAM Public Health Productions; Adjunct Professor at NYU

Charles Banda
Founder/Director of Freshwater Project Malawi



****Free and open to the public. ***

October 29, 2009
12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

Puck Building - 2nd Floor Conference Room
295 Lafayette Street, 2nd Fl

Data from northern Uganda’s war challenge conventional notions about the role of females during and after war. Women and girls recruited by the Lord’s Resistance Army are not passive victims, but play active roles, and only a minority of those who return exhibit serious reintegration difficulties. For those who do have problems with reintegration, abduction into the armed group exacerbates already existing problems, including gender inequalities, corruption in the police system, and devastating poverty. Join us as Dr. Jeannie Annan, Director of Research and Evaluation at the International Rescue Committee, discusses findings from her research and addresses how decreasing violence against women after war will depend on the strength of interventions to address factors at individual, family and community levels.

Jeannie Annan received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University—Bloomington and completed postdoctoral fellowships at NYU and Yale University. Her research examines the impact of war and violence on mental health, with a particular focus on identifying individual, social, and environmental risk and protective factors. Dr. Annan has been engaged in the evaluation of post-conflict youth programs, examining the psychological and social effects of programs for economic recovery and reintegration. Her research has been funded by UNICEF and the MacArthur Foundation and involved collaborations with the UN, government and non-governmental organizations in Uganda and Liberia. Dr. Annan has recently joined the International Rescue Committee as their Director of Research and Evaluation and is a Visiting Scientist at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Part of the Conflict, Security & Development event series co-sponsored with the NYU Wagner Office of International Programs and the Center for Global Affairs at the NYU School of Continuing & Professional Studies.

October 26, 2009
05:00 PM - 06:30 PM

Silver Center - Jurow Lecture Hall
100 Washington Square East

Brazil is one of a only few middle income countries with a universal, rights-based public health system and is well-known for its innovative approaches to a number of public health problems. At the same time, there remain considerable geographic, socio-economic, and racial/ethnic inequalities in health status and its determinants throughout the country. This panel brings together leading Brazilian experts who will discuss the extent of inequalities in health in the country and present several health policy innovations (such as the national HIV/AIDS program and training human resources for health) designed to tackle such inequalities. Join Dr. Naomar Almeida-Filho, Rector of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Dr. Emilio José Castro e Silva, Director of International Relations at UFBA, and Inês Dourado, Professor at UFBA’s Institute for Collective Health for an engaging discussion of the progress and remaining challenges facing their country’s ongoing development of a universal health system.


Featuring:

Naomar Monteiro de Almeida Filho, MD, PhD
Rector and Professor, Universidade Federal da Bahia (Brazil)

Dr. Emílio José de Castro Silva, MD, PhD
Director of Office of International Affairs and Professor, Universidade Federal da Bahia

Dr. Inês Dourado, MD, PhD
Professor, Instituto de Saúde Coletiva/ Universidade Federal da Bahia

Moderated by:

Dr. James Macinko
Director, NYU Master’s Program in Global Public Health; Associate Professor of Public Health, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development

October 24, 2009
09:00 AM - 01:30 PM

NYU Palladium Multipurpose Room

140 East 14th Street, 3rd Floor

Learn about types of global public health jobs, strategies to approach your job search, ways to make your resume stand out, and practical techniques for interviewing. Discover how to take advantage of conferences, career fairs, online professional networking sites, and other networking opportunities. Through exercises, assessments, and activities, this half-day workshop will help you determine your career path and secure the job you want.

PROGRAM

9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Welcome and Breakfast

James Macinko, PhD
Director, NYU Master’s Program in Global Public Health;
Associate Professor of Public Health - Dept of Nutrition, Food Studies & Public Health. NYU Steinhardt

9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Careers in Global Public Health

Panelists

Scott Kellerman, MD, MPH
Principal Technical Advisor for HIV Prevention
Management Sciences for Health

Shuma Panse, MPH
Knowledge, Evaluation and Performance (KEP) Manager
Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria

Christine Ratnam
Vice President, Organizational Development and Human Resources
EngenderHealth

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.   Networking Break

11:00 a.m. – Noon    Breakout Session I
A) How does this all work? – The job search and application process
B) Getting the interview – Effective resume and cover letters
C) The tough part - Interviewing and salary negotiation

Noon – 1 p.m.    Breakout Session II
A) How does this all work? – The job search and application process
B) Getting the interview – Effective resume and cover letters
C) The tough part - Interviewing and salary negotiation

1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.   Wrap-up
Q&A

October 22, 2009
06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

Pless Hall Lounge
82 Washington Square East (entrance is on Washington Place)

Click here for a map of the location

The Master’s Program in Global Public Health Open House will be a valuable opportunity to meet our program faculty and staff, learn about the curriculum and concentration areas, hear more about our dual degree programs, and understand the admissions and financial aid processes. You will also have the opportunity to have any questions you might have about the program answered. Hope to see you there!

October 21, 2009
06:30 PM - 08:30 PM

Vanderbilt Hall - Room 214
40 Washington Square South

Vanderbilt Hall is located between MacDougal and Sullivan Streets. It is one block east of the West Fourth Street subway station ( A, C, D, E, F, and V lines).

Health literacy is a significant prerequisite to the effectiveness of how people make health-related decisions in the context of their everyday life – at home, at the physician’s office, the workplace, the market place, the health care system, on the internet as well as within their communities and spheres of political and professional influences. Health literacy–related issues influence (or should influence) the theory and practice of health communication – and more broadly public health – so that the needs of low literacy and vulnerable populations can be met in different countries and communities and within a variety of communication settings, venues, and channels. Thinking globally about health literacy goes hands to hands with acting locally. Different concepts of health and illness, literacy levels, audience-specific barriers, cultural differences and several other factors all influence people’s ability to understand, process and act upon health related information. These factors should all be considered in developing and tailoring audience- and situation-specific communication interventions that aim to achieve health and social behavior results and ultimately improve public health outcomes. This panel will start with an overview of health literacy issues and implications within a variety of communication and country settings. Special focuses will include health literacy implications and communication strategies within the context of interpersonal communication as well as vulnerable and migrant populations.

Featuring

Gary L. Kreps, Ph.D.,
Eileen and Steve Mandell Professor of Health Communication, Professor and Chair, Department of Communication, Director, Center for Health and Risk Communication, George Mason University

Isabel M. Estrada-Portales, M.S.
Director of Communications - Office of Minority Health Resource Center

Moderated by:

Renata Schiavo, Ph.D., M.A.
Founder and Principal, Strategic Communication Resources

October 8, 2009
12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

Puck Building - 2nd Floor Conference Room
295 Lafayette Street, 2nd Fl

The worldwide financial crisis, coming quickly on the heels of a global food crisis, demonstrates that we have entered unchartered territory. The world has changed in dramatic ways, and it is the most vulnerable who suffer disproportionately from these crises. Refugees endure cuts in their food rations, and humanitarian assistance continues to be underfunded. These crises, however, also provide opportunities - a chance to rethink our business model and the structure and practice of humanitarian aid. Many argue that it is time to end dependency-inducing programs and focus as early and as soon as possible on how to help crisis-affected populations resume their lives and their livelihoods. Join us as Dale Buscher, Director of Protection at the Women’s Refugee Commission, discusses our collective thinking about humanitarian aid and how we might progress further on the path of restoring lives, dignity and livelihoods.

Dale Buscher, Protection Program Director, leads the Women's Refugee Commission’s work on refugee livelihoods, displaced out-of-school youth, gender and UN advocacy in New York. He has been working in the refugee assistance field since 1988 in a variety of capacities. Dale worked with Vietnamese boat people in the Philippines and later with Haitian refugees interned at Guantanamo Bay. He has worked with displaced Kurds in Northern Iraq, with Bosnian refugees in Croatia and with Kosovars in Albania and in Kosovo. He went on to work as the Director of Operations for the International Catholic Migration Commission in Geneva where he oversaw the organization’s $25 million international programs – covering 20 countries and 800 staff. He started numerous new programs for the organization, including during extended field postings in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Additionally, he has worked as a consultant for UNHCR where he wrote a field handbook entitled Operational Protection in Camps and Settlements. Dale earned his Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Utah and earned a Bachelors of Science degree from Iowa State University.


Part of the Conflict, Security and Development event series co-sponsored with the NYU Wagner Office of International Programs and the NYU SCPS Center for Global Affairs

October 8, 2009
06:30 PM - 08:00 PM

Click here to view the videostream of this event.

Beginning with a case example of drug-resistant TB from Namibia illustrating both governmental responsibility and human agency, Dr. Timothy Holtz will briefly discuss the global epidemiology of TB, the emergence of drug-resistant TB in sub-Saharan Africa, and how the confluence of HIV/AIDS and MDR TB are creating the "perfect storm." Using the current MDR TB-HIV/AIDS disaster in South Africa as backdrop, Dr. Holtz will contrast the human rights based approach to drug-resistant TB control to that of the public law approach, and discuss the merits and disadvantages of compulsory isolation in that situation. The audience will be presented with questions being hotly debated in South Africa to initiate public discussion.

October 2, 2009
03:00 PM - 06:00 PM

The NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development

140 East 14th Street or 133 East 13th Street, 2nd Floor

Meet with representatives from leading global and domestic public health organizations. Learn about current internship and employment opportunities while building a diverse network of contacts in the public health field.

Co-sponsored by the Community Public Health Program at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; the NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health; the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service; and the NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development.

This fair is open to all students and alumni in the aforementioned programs.

Friday, September 25, 4:30-5:30pm. Preparatory session: Making the Most of the Public Health Internship Fair.

May 5, 2009
04:15 PM - 05:30 PM

Kimmel Center for University Life - Room 914 (9th Floor)
60 Washington Square South

Is climate change truly a matter of life and death?  Join us as Dr. Michael Greenstone discusses revelatory new research on the impact of inter-annual variation in weather on well being in India.  The results indicate that high temperatures dramatically increase mortality rates; for example, 1 additional day with a mean temperature above 32° C, relative to a day in the 22° - 24° C range, increases the annual mortality rate by 0.9% in rural areas.  This effect appears to be related to substantial reductions in the income of agricultural laborers due to these same hot days.  Finally, the estimated temperature-mortality relationship and state of the art climate change projections reveal a substantial increase in mortality due to climate change, which greatly exceeds the expected impact in the US and other developed countries.

Co-sponsored by the Global MPH program, the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, and the NYU Environmental Studies program.  Presented as part of the ongoing series Statistics in Society, organized by the Steinhardt PRIISM Center.

Michael Greenstone is the 3M Professor of Environmental Economics in the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings.

May 1, 2009
05:30 PM - 07:30 PM

Kimmel Center for University Life - 900 Series (9th Floor)
60 Washington Square South

April 16, 2009
06:15 PM - 08:00 PM

Kimmel Center for University Life - 900 Series (9th Floor)
60 Washington Square South

View streaming video of this event here.

Ghana is a country with over 20 million people, and only 48 qualified ophthalmologists serving the entire population - 1 per 396,000 people. It is widely acknowledged that the single major cause of increasing numbers of visually impaired Ghanaians is the lack of qualified eye care staff in the country.  The number of practitioners trained to treat eye and visual disorders has been  dropping yearly, as skilled clinicians continue to leave the country; yet the population of Ghana is expected to nearly double by 2020, and there will be a greater need than ever for optometric and ophthalmic services.

Join us as Dr. Seth Wanye discusses the unique challenges facing health professionals working in austere conditions, and gives us his own insight into the current state of health care in Africa.

Moderated by Mark Sherstinsky, O.D. - NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health MPH candidate in Health Policy & Management; Assistant Clinical Professor at SUNY Optometry; Chief of Eye Care Services at East New York Diagnostic & Treatment Center

Dr. Seth Wanye is an ophthalmologist at The Eye Clinic of Tamale Teaching Hospital in Northern Ghana and a member of Unite For Sight's Medical Advisory Board. Born in Ghana, he received his medical degree from Kharkov Medical School (Ukraine) in 1990 and continued graduate studies at Ulianovsk State University (Russia). In May 2004, Dr. Wanye became Regional Ophthalmologist and Coordinator for Trachoma Control Program for Northern Region, Ghana. He is also a part-time lecturer at the University for Development Studies in Tamale. Dr. Wanye is the only ophthalmologist serving 2 million people in Northern Ghana.

March 26, 2009
05:00 PM - 06:30 PM

NYU Wasserman Center - Presentation Room A
133 East 13th Street (in between 3rd and 4th)

Join us as Victor Sidel, world renowned expert on the public health consequences of war, outlines the important role health workers have to play in a century increasingly defined by ongoing warfare and global discord.

Victor Sidel is a graduate of Princeton University with honors in physics and of Harvard Medical School with honors in biophysics. After training in internal medicine and in biophysics at Harvard Medical School and at the National Heart Institute in Bethesda, he headed the Community Medicine Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital and studied epidemiology and biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He moved to the Bronx in 1969 to chair the Department of Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and was appointed Distinguished University Professor of Social Medicine in 1984. He is also Adjunct Professor of Public Health at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Dr. Sidel served as president of the American Public Health Association in 1985 and of the Public Health Association of New York City in 1980-81 and in 2000-1. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors of Physicians for a National Health Program. Since 1974 Dr. Sidel has been chair of the Institutional Review Board for Protection of Human Subjects at Montefiore and has lectured and published on topics in medical ethics.

Dr. Sidel is also deeply involved in international health work and in 1971 was a member of the first U.S. medical delegation invited to the People's Republic of China in 20 years; he has studied health care in a dozen other countries, and has been a consultant for the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). He was one of the founders of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) in 1961 and was its president in 1987-88.

In 1980 he was one of the founders of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize for Peace, and was its co-president from 1993 to 1998. He has spoken and published widely on the economic, social, environmental and health consequences of the arms race, on the risks posed by the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and on the diversion of resources and the curtailment of human rights entailed in responses to the threat of bioterrorism.

Dr. Sidel is co-editor with Dr. Barry Levy of War and Public Health (Oxford University Press, 1997; updated paperbound edition, American Public Health Association, 2000) and of Terrorism and Public Health (Oxford University Press, 2003).

March 2, 2009
05:00 PM - 06:00 PM

Kimmel Center for University Life - Room 405 (4th Floor)
60 Washington Square South

The Millenium Villages Project depends on verbal autopsies in order to identify gaps in public health services and improve intervention services.

Join us as visiting Kenyan academic researcher Dr. Steve Okoth discusses his own research on the use of verbal autopsies in extremely poor settings and the important role they play in the Millenium Villages project.

Steve Okoth, M.B.Ch.B., has experience both as a health leader and medical officer for the Millennium Villages Project in Siaya District, Kenya.  He previously served in the Republic of Kenya's Ministry of Health as the Medical Officer responsible for the Yala Sub-district hospital.  He received his medical degree from the University of Nairobi College of Health Sciences.

Moderated by Gary S. Belkin, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H. - Deputy Director of Psychiatry, Bellevue Hospital Center, and Associate Professor, and Director, Program in Global Mental Health, New York University School of Medicine 

February 28, 2009
09:30 AM - 12:30 PM

February 18, 2009
05:00 PM - 06:15 PM

Kimmel Center for University Life - Rooms 804 and 805 
60 Washington Square South

In 2004, Canada became the first World Trade Organization member to amend its patent law to create a compulsory licensing regime allowing for the manufacture and export of medicines to developing countries without manufacturing capabilities. The legislation, now known as Canada's Access to Medicine Regime (CAMR), was passed to help lessen the health burden caused by lack of access to medicines.

The CAMR has been the subject of much political debate in Canada and has fallen dramatically short of its humanitarian objectives, despite a recent shipment of anti-retroviral drugs to Rwanda.

Is the CAMR too removed from the realities of developing countries and the pharmaceutical market to feasibly achieve its humanitarian objectives? Join us as our special guest Dr. Jillian Clare Köhler of the University of Toronto discusses the promise and failure of the CAMR, and whether or not it might ever serve as an effective vehicle for delivering crucial medicines to those in need.

Dr. Jillian Clare Köhler is an Assistant Professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. Her research and teaching are focused on global drug access issues including ethics and corruption in pharmaceutical systems. Prior to joining the University of Toronto, she worked on pharmaceutical policy for UNICEF, the World Bank and the WHO. She has also been a consultant for governments, international organizations and aid agencies on pharmaceutical policy issues including corruption, drug regulations, and reimbursement policies. She is the author of numerous journal articles on pharmaceutical policy and a co-editor of The Power of Pills: Social, Ethical and Legal Issues in Drug Development, Marketing and Pricing Policies (2006) and also a member of the World Health Organization’s Global Advisory Group on Good Governance for Medicines as well as a Board Member of Transparency International, Canada. Dr. Kohler is a graduate of NYU Department of Politics (2001).

February 18, 2009
07:30 PM - 09:30 PM

Puck Building - 2nd Floor Conference Room
295 Lafayette Street, 2nd Fl

While the global financial crisis currently dominates the front pages, it has displaced global crises of fuel prices and access to food. Join a discussion that explores the relationship between these three crises, the policy solutions necessary for an effective response, and the social transformations that will likely ensue.

With:
- Walden Bello, executive director of Focus on the Global South and professor of sociology at the University of the Philippines, and author of Deglobalization: Ideas for a New World Economy
- June Borras, Canada Research Chair in International Development Studies Saint Mary’s University Halifax, Canada, co-editor of Transnational Agrarian Movements Confronting Globalization
- Barry Gills, Professor of Global Politics, Newcastle University, editor of The Clash of Globalizations: 'Empire' or 'Cosmopolis'
- Frances Moore Lappe, co-founder of the Small Planet Institute and author of Diet for a Small Planet and co-author of Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet.

Co-sponsored by NYU Wagner's Office of International Programs, NYU Wagner's Health Program, NYU's Master of Global Public Health, The Nation, Globalizations International Political Economy Section of the International Studies Association, Routledge

RSVP online by clicking here

February 12, 2009
12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

Puck Building - 2nd Floor Conference Room
295 Lafayette Street, 2nd Fl

Join us as Dr. Therese McGinn outlines how how the reproductive health of a population is affected, in turn, by refugee or displaced status.

Therese McGinn, Associate Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York, is Director of the Reproductive Health Access, Information and Services in Emergencies (RAISE) Initiative. In the past decade, she served as Deputy Director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD) Program and Principal Investigator of the Monitoring and Evaluation Program of the Reproductive Health Response in Conflict Consortium.

During her 25 years of public health work, Dr McGinn has focused on using sound data collection and analysis to improve the scope and quality of reproductive health services globally, in order for men and women to make choices about their sexual and reproductive lives. Dr McGinn has focused most intently in Africa but also has experience in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. From the mid-1990s, her work has included a substantive focus on the reproductive health of conflict-affected populations.

In addition to her applied research activities globally, Dr McGinn teaches in Columbia University’s Master of Public Health program, participates in professional conferences and contributes to the professional literature. She received the Doctor of Public Health degree from Columbia University with a dissertation on fertility desires and behavior of women in post-conflict Rwanda, the Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan, and the Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in development economics.

Part of the Conflict, Security and Development seminar series

February 12, 2009
05:00 PM - 06:30 PM

Kimball Hall Lounge
246 Greene Street, Main Floor

In his new book The Thin Blue Line: How Humanitarianism Went to War, British aid worker Conor Foley paints a bleak portrait of humanitarian intervention while describing his failed missions during a career with such organizations as Amnesty International and the UNHCR. He revisits his time in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Indonesia, enumerating the knotty ethical dilemmas inherent in offering humanitarian aid -  the blurring boundary between "development and humanitarian action" or the challenges of maintaining political neutrality while providing aid.

Join us as Conor Foley discusses his new book, the career and experiences that inform it, and why from Kosovo to Iraq, military interventions have gone disastrously wrong.

A humanitarian aid worker, Conor Foley has worked for a variety of human rights and humanitarian aid organizations, including Liberty, Amnesty International and the UNHCR, in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. His other books include Combating Torture: A Manual for Judges and Prosecutors (2003).  He is a development consultant and contributes a column to The Guardian.

January 30, 2009
12:00 PM - 01:30 PM

35 West 4th Street, Room 1080 (10th Floor)

Conditional cash transfers are a new means of improving poor families' ability to meet basic household needs and improve educational attainment of their children.  A unique model that provides money directly to poor families via a “social contract” with the beneficiaries – for example, sending children to school regularly or bringing them to health centers - Brazil's Bolsa Familia is one of the world's largest conditional cash transfer programs. Join us as Dr. Guanais Aguiar discusses evidence for the effectiveness of the Bolsa Familia on improving family health in Brazil.   

Frederico Guanais Aguiar is Special Adviser to the Minister of Social Development and Fight against Hunger in Brazil, and a professor of Public Policy at the Brazilian Foreign Service Institute. He holds a PhD in Public Administration from New York University, where he conducted research on the health impacts of the decentralization of primary care.

January 23, 2009
06:00 PM - 08:30 PM

Lester Pollack Colloquium Room
NYU School of Law
Furman Hall
245 Sullivan Street

December 5, 2008
06:00 PM - 07:30 PM

NYU School of Medicine Department of Medical Parasitology
341 East 25th Street, 1st Floor

The Global MPH program invites those interested in learning more about the program to attend the second of our two fall Open Houses.   The Open Houses will be a valuable opportunity to meet our program faculty and staff, learn about the curriculum and concentration areas, hear more about our dual degree programs, and understand the admissions and financial aid processes.   You will also have the opportunity to have any questions you might have about the program answered.

Refreshments will be served.  We hope to see you there!

November 19, 2008
06:45 PM - 07:45 PM

Silver Center, Room 710
100 Washington Square East (at Washington Place)

November 14, 2008
06:30 PM - 08:30 PM

Lipton Hall within D'Agostino Hall
108 West 3rd Street

View streaming video of this event here.

According to the World Health Organization, chronic diseases are the major cause of death and disability worldwide, accounting for 59% of the 57 million deaths annually and 46% of the global burden of disease. Furthermore, 80% of all chronic disease deaths occur in low and middle income countries, especially among adults aged 30–69 years. Chronic diseases will likely be the predominant global source of morbidity, death and disease worldwide during the 21st century.

Despite a growing global burden of chronic disease which disproportionately affects developing countries, infectious diseases perennially remain at the top of the global health agenda for developing countries. While governments of industrialized nations now spend huge portions of their healthcare budget tackling the burden of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes, chronic diseases remain a low priority on the global health agenda and are not mentioned anywhere in the Millennium Development Goals.

What is the often unrecognized impact and burden of these chronic diseases on developing countries? What can we do to more evenly distribute among the global community the benefits of the accomplishments of medicine and public health in addressing these diseases?

Join us for an important and engaging evening as Dr. David V. McQueen (Associate Director for Global Health Promotion at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control),  Dr. Rachel Nugent (Deputy Director of the Global Health Program at the Center for Global Development) and Dr. Henry Greenberg (Associate Director of Cardiology, St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University) discuss these issues and explore ways of addressing the increasing global burden of chronic disease. 

Moderated by Dr. Francesca Gany, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Director of the Center for Immigrant Health at the NYU School of Medicine and Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Human Migration concentration leader for the NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health.

Made possible in part through the generous support of the Josiah Macy. Jr. Foundation.

October 24, 2008
06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

Vanderbilt Hall - Tishman Auditorium
40 Washington Square South

View archived streaming video of this event here.

Since the eruption of the HIV pandemic over two decades ago, global public health experts have long advocated for a few major approaches in preventing the spread of the deadly disease.  Billions of dollars have been poured into these efforts, led by multilateral organizations like the United Nations and financially backed by governments worldwide. 

Now, a group of researchers and scientists are saying that recent evidence shows that some of these long held prevention strategies just don't work very well.  They're calling for a different approach to preventing HIV-AIDS in regions like Africa, and charge that health officials are wasting money pursuing approaches that are largely ineffective and unexamined.  Organizations like UNAIDS counter that the impact of these programs is undeniable and can be seen directly in the worldwide decline of the HIV epidemic - which they say can be linked precisely to interventions such as condom distribution and HIV testing.

What doesn't work and what would work better when it comes to preventing the spread of HIV, especially in Africa? Join us for an exciting evening as our three panelists confront this pressing issue.

Dr. Daniel Halperin (Senior Research Scientist and Lecturer on International Health in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University) will discuss his provocative recent work - including publications in Science and The Lancet and editorials in The New York Times and The Washington Post - which scrutinizes the prevailing orthodoxy of which HIV prevention strategies are effective and should be pursued, and which are less effective.

Joining Dr. Halperin in this important discussion will be Dr. Bill Easterly (Professor of Economics at New York University, co-Director of NYU's Development Research Institute, and author of the recent The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good) and Dr. Helen Epstein (noted public health specialist and author of The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight Against AIDS).

Part of the Conversations in Global Public Health seminar series, made possible in part through the generous support of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation

October 15, 2008
06:00 PM - 07:30 PM

Kimball Hall Lounge
246 Greene Street, Main Floor

The Global MPH program invites those interested in learning more about the program to attend the first of our two fall Open Houses.   The Open Houses will be a valuable opportunity to meet our program faculty and staff, learn about the curriculum and concentration areas, hear more about our dual degree programs, and understand the admissions and financial aid processes.   You will also have the opportunity to have any questions you might have about the program answered.

Refreshments will be served.  We hope to see you there!

October 14, 2008
06:00 PM - 09:00 PM

NYU Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South
6:00pm Presentations: Shorium Auditorium, Room 802, 8th Floor
7:30pm Reception:  Commuter Lounge Gallery, 2nd Floor

featuring:
Joia Mukherjee, M.D., M.P.H.
Medical Director, Partners In Health
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Edward M. Cardoza, M.A.
Vice President for Development, Partners In Health

2007 marked the 20th anniversary of the founding of Partners In Health, the Boston-based organization renowned for its pioneering work to bring high-quality medical care to destitute communities. To mark the occasion, Partners In Health has partnered with the NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health to mount another striking portrayal of its work -­ an exhibit of striking photographs depicting the clinics and communities where the organization has forged partnerships with patients and local health workers to combat epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, hunger and poverty. To commemorate the anniversary and the exhibit here at NYU, two member of Partners In Health's committed leadership will join us for an evening presentation with a reception to follow in the downstairs gallery currently hosting the exhibit.

From the barren hills of Haiti, to the shantytowns of Peru, from the villages of rural Rwanda to the streets of downtown Boston, these photographs illuminate how communities that suffer the most glaring health, social, and economic disparities in the world can be revived when the individuals living in them have access to health, social and economic support, and training. If a picture is worth a thousand words, these images are worth millions for what they have to say about human dignity in the face of intolerable suffering and criminal indifference, about solidarity, and ultimately about hope.

Speaker Biographies:
Joia Mukherjee, MD, MPH
Joia Mukherjee, MD, MPH is an expert in the scale up of treatment for complex disease in poor countries. As Medical Director of Partners In Health, she has overseen the expansion of successful HIV/AIDS treatment programs to eight hospitals in Haiti and six clinics in rural Rwanda, as well as the scale up of treatment programs for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis nationwide in Peru and to 14 states in the Russian Federation. In 2006, Dr. Mukherjee served as Editor-in-Chief for the 2nd edition of Partners In Health’s Community-Based Treatment of HIV in Resource Poor Settings, the leading publication of its kind for health care professionals worldwide. She is also a respected voice in global health policy, and in 2006 was a leading contributor to new World Health Organization standards for treating HIV positive children in poor settings and for management of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. She is a sought after teacher and speaker at a wide range of venues around the world, having lectured at universities and major medical conferences in 14 countries. She is also an extensively published and well-respected researcher, who is currently principal investigator on three studies examining various aspects of her work in Haiti. Dr. Mukherjee received her MD from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in 1992, followed by clinical training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic from 1992 to 1994 and at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1995 to 1997. She was a Fellow in Infectious Disease at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 1997 to 2001. In 1998, she received the Fellow in Training Award from the Infectious Disease Society of America. She received her Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2001. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Infectious Disease.


Edward M. Cardoza, M.A.
Mr. Edward M. Cardoza holds a Master of Arts in Ministry from Saint John’s Seminary School of Theology and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Saint John’s Seminary College of Liberal Arts. While in the seminary, Mr. Cardoza served in the Office of AIDS Ministry and the chaplaincy office at Massachusetts General Hospital. During this time, he also attended the University of Lisbon in Lisbon, Portugal where he studied Portuguese and worked with refugees from East Timor. After graduating from the seminary college, he worked as a development researcher at Tufts University. In 1998, Mr. Cardoza became a development researcher at the Harvard Medical School, and later the director of development research at the Appalachian Mountain Club in 2000. In December 2002, he was recruited by Partners In Health to become the director of development. He is currently fundraising for Partners In Health’s programs in Boston, Haiti, Russia, Peru, Rwanda, Mexico and Guatemala.

October 6, 2008
12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

The field of public health is one that requires an interdisciplinary approach to finding solutions to today’s health challenges. The panel of speakers on October 6th includes accomplished clinicians from a variety of fields who have successfully combined their clinical expertise with public health in order to make sustainable changes in the community.

We invite any NYU student who is interested in health to join us and learn more about our panel’s career paths, accomplishments and advice. If you are considering a career in a health-related field, we hope to see you.

Featured panelists include:

Jeein Chung, DVM, MPH '08
Associate Veterinarian, Hoboken Animal Hospital; MPH Candidate, NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health

Dr. Jeein Chung, DVM, is an associate veterinarian for the Hoboken Animal Hospital in Hoboken, NJ. He is a graduate of Tufts University and The Ohio State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, and is currently pursuing his Master's in Global Public Health at NYU in order to bridge the gap between animal health and human health. His primary interests are in veterinary preventative medicine and infectious diseases, especially those of zoonotic significance.

Neal Herman, D.D.S., FAAHD, DABSCD
Clinical Professor and Director of the Advanced Program for International Dentists in Pediatric Dentistry, NYU College of Dentistry

Dr. Neal Herman is a pediatric dentist, a Fellow of the American Association of Hospital Dentists, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry. At the present time, he is Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, New York University College of Dentistry. He also is Attending Pediatric Dentist at Bellevue Hospital Center, New York City. Dr. Herman teaches a course on International Issues in Pediatric Dentistry as a faculty member of the New York University Masters Program in Global Public Health. .As of February 2008, he has completed a 2 ½ year stint as Region II Head Start Oral Health Consultant, working out of the New York City Regional Office of the Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services. From 1994 to 2004, Dr. Herman served as Senior Policy Advisor for Institutional, Academic and Professional Affairs, Bureau of Oral Health, New York City Health Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. From 1989 to 1993, prior to coming to New York University, Dr. Herman spent four and one half years full-time with the N.Y.C. Department of Health, Bureau of Dental Health Services, initially as the Deputy Director for Clinical Affairs, and then as the Bureau Director and Assistant Commissioner of Health. From 1981 to 1989, he was Director of Dentistry, the Children's Aid Society of New York City; and from 1977 to 1981, Assistant Professor of Community and Pediatric Dentistry, Fairleigh Dickinson University, School of Dentistry and Director, Paterson Board of Education Dental Health Center in New Jersey. From 1972 - 1993, Dr. Herman had been an attending dentist, clinician and administrator at the Sunset Park Family Health Center of Lutheran Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, an original federal neighborhood health center founded in 1967. He has also served as a Head Start Program Reviewer for Region II, and, from 1997-2004, as the Pediatric Dentistry Consultant to the NYU/Region II Head Start Technical Assistance Support Center (TASC). Dr. Herman has lectured extensively and appeared on radio, television and in the print media in the United States and internationally in the areas of hospital, clinical and academic dentistry, pediatric and special patient health care issues, public health policy, quality assurance, community relations, and program development/administration. In 2007, he was profiled by the New York State Dental Foundation on their website www.nysdentalfoundation.org. The Foundation gave special recognition to him as an individual whose contributions to the dental profession and patient care far exceed duty and expectations.


Sara Kahn, LCSW, MSW, MPH
Sara Kahn Consulting

Sara Kahn is currently a trauma therapist and staff wellness consultant for international humanitarian organizations, providing crisis intervention, counseling, and training for national and expat staff around the world. She has Masters degrees in Social Work and Public Health from Columbia University, and has worked extensively with displaced populations both overseas and within the United States. During the war in Bosnia, she helped develop a local Bosnian NGO serving the needs of internally displaced children, a program that continues to this day. In Bosnia, Kosovo, Cyprus, and Greece, Ms. Kahn worked with Physicians for Human Rights to develop psychosocial programs for war-affected communities during exhumations of mass graves. From 1999-2008, she served as Director of the Cross-Cultural Counseling Center at the International Institute of New Jersey, where she helped launch psychosocial programs for the Cuban, Haitian, Russian, Kosovar/Albanian, Arabic-speaking, and South Asian communities. She started the Institute’s Program for Survivors of War Trauma and Torture, serving people from around the world fleeing persecution, and launched New Jersey’s first statewide Anti-Trafficking initiative. She has led numerous trainings and seminars in the area of psychological trauma and caregiver stress, and has delivered trainings in forensic interviewing approaches for Seton Hall Law School, Human Rights First, and Doctors of the World. Ms. Kahn serves as an expert witness on behalf of asylum seekers, immigrant survivors of domestic violence, and families threatened with deportation. Also a performer and writer, Ms. Kahn’s one-woman show, HAVEN – focusing on the lives of refugees -- was presented at the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival, and numerous universities and conferences over the past 4 years. She has been an adjunct professor at both Hunter, and New York University Schools of Social Work, and is currently pursuing her doctorate in Social Work at NYU.


Nancy Van Devanter, DrPH, RN, EdM
Associate Professor, NYU College of Nursing

Nancy Van Devanter, Dr.PH., is an Associate Professor at the College of Nursing. She is the former Director of the Mailman School of Public Health, Center for Applied Public Health created to identify, develop, and test replicable models of community academic partnership. For the last decade, she has conducted community-based participatory research in northern Manhattan, where she has strong ties to community-based organizations. She has conducted numerous intervention studies for community health promotion and disease prevention in communities experiencing health disparities. She is currently Principal Investigator of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded Oral History of the Public Health Response to Hurricane Katrina and Principal investigator of the Partnership for Family Health, a Ryan White Title IV program serving northern Manhattan funded by the Health Research and Services Administration.

September 26, 2008
04:00 PM - 07:00 PM

The Palladium, 140 East 14th Street, 3rd Floor

The Public Health Internship Fair is an opportunity for students to meet with potential internship organizations face-to-face.

At this free event, organizations will disseminate information about both internships and job openings to students.

Be sure to bring along your resume!

September 25, 2008
12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

Puck Building - 2nd Floor Conference Room
295 Lafayette Street, 2nd Fl

Is an entire continent losing the very people it needs most for economic, social, scientific, and technological progress?

The migration of doctors and nurses from Africa to developed countries has long raised fears of an African medical brain drain. But empirical research on the causes and effects of the phenomenon has been hampered by a lack of systematic data on the extent of African health workers' international movements.

Join us as expert Dr. Michael Clemens (Research Fellow and Director of the Migration and Development Initiative at the Center for Global Development) gives an enlightening overview of the origin-country impact of the emigration of African doctors and nurses, including health effects, financial effects, and ethical issues.

Part of the Conflict, Security and Development series co-sponsored with the NYU Wagner Office of International Programs and the School of Continuing and Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs.

June 3, 2008
12:30 PM - 01:30 PM

PLESS HALL LOUNGE
82 Washington Square East, 1st Floor Lounge

The main aim of the project is to establish a model urban agriculture initiative that showcases a food garden system for food production, education, research, and empowerment of the community, particularly women, through training, employment and income-generating opportunities

The SFGP is also linked to a group of inner-city community-based organizations. These organizations include home-based care and early childhood development centers that provide vital services to disadvantaged community members.

Dr. Michael Rudolph of the University of Wits’ School of Public Health in Johannesburg, South Africa joined us to give a presentation on his work with the Siyakhana Food Garden Project (www.siyakhana.org), a permaculture project located in the inner city of Johannesburg. Dr. Rudolph spoke to the range of disciplines and systems which operate and impact on the food garden. As multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, teaching and education are spanning the rifts between scientific disciplines, urban agriculture demands the application of appropriate scientific and practical knowledge that combines and integrates information and understanding from various scientific disciplines. As shortcomings of fragmented disciplines are exposed, new modes of teaching and research are emerging. The Siyakhana project is one example of such an approach to urban food gardening.

Dr. Michael Rudolph, BDS, MSc, MPH, Chief specialist, Professor and Senior Manager, University of Wits School of Public Health, Johannesburg, South Africa, has been involved in research and training programs in tertiary institutions and the strategic development of primary health care programmes in South Africa for the past thirty years. Throughout this time, he has also established numerous community-based rural and urban projects. A professor and chief specialist at the University of Wits’ School of Public Health, Dr. Rudolph’s areas of interest include innovation in health care curricula and appropriate technology in primary health care, formulation and facilitation of community-based health related activities, and strategic planning for new academic departments at Wits. Dr. Rudolph initiated and manages a unique Mobile Dental Unit, and most recently, in 2005, he established the Siyakhana Food Garden.

We invite you to come meet Dr. Rudolph and hear him speak on this important topic.

May 12, 2008
05:00 PM - 08:00 PM

The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10029

Graduating students and their guests were invited to join us on May 12th, 2008 as we honored the first graduating class of the NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health.    

April 29, 2008
05:00 PM - 06:30 PM

Kimball Hall Lounge
246 Greene Street, 1st Floor

The students in the NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health  presented the Capstone projects they have worked on over the past year. The Capstone is the culminating experience of the Global MPH program and provides a unique opportunity for our students to demonstrate the acquisition of fundamental public health competencies while working on a real-time problem in global public health. This year, our students worked with organizations based in countries as diverse as Brazil, Cambodia, El Salvador, and South Africa, on problems ranging from the impact of violence on adolescent mortality to the effectiveness of different approaches to cervical cancer screening; their presentations were an exciting opportunity to see what happens when students go beyond talking and writing about global public health theories to confront very real global health challenges "on the ground". The event is free and open to all.

April 28, 2008
03:30 PM - 04:15 PM

Silver Center, 100 Washington Square East, Room 710

Scott Sasser, MD, FACEP, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine (EM), Emory University School of Medicine and in the Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health (RSOPH). In addition to his clinical duties in the Emergency Departments at Grady Memorial Hospital and Crawford Long Hospital, Dr. Sasser is the Director of International Health Programs in the Department of Emergency Medicine, the Associate Director for the Center for Injury Control, works as a consultant in the Division of Injury Response, in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and directs the department’s International Health Fellowship.

Recognizing the growing global public health burden of injury, which disproportionately affects countries with limited resources, Dr. Sasser’s career efforts have focused on the development of low cost, sustainable prehospital and hospital based trauma care systems that are designed to assist countries in the development of appropriate, locally relevant trauma care programs. Dr. Sasser was the lead editor on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) publication Prehospital Trauma Care Systems, a monograph designed to assist decision-makers in low and middle income countries develop basic prehospital trauma care systems; as an extension of this project, he currently sits on the WHO Trauma and Emergency Care Advisory Committee. Dr. Sasser is currently involved in projects in Kenya, Rwanda, and India, and is currently the recipient of funding from the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health to provide injury focused public health training to physicians in Mozambique and from the United States Agency for International Development to develop emergency medicine and emergency medical services in the Republic of Georgia. Additionally, Dr. Sasser is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through an inter-personnel agreement to work nationally and internationally on issues related to the care of the acutely injured, including international efforts focused on trauma and emergency care system development. In his work at the CDC Dr. Sasser has coordinated the development of a teaching curriculum on bombing and blast injury (Bombings: Injury Patterns and Care) that addresses the clinical and system response to injuries from terrorist bombings and has been taught and disseminated nationally and internationally.

Dr. Sasser completed medical school at Tulane University School of Medicine. Following graduation, Dr. Sasser completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he served as Chief Resident. He subsequently completed a fellowship in Emergency Medical Services at that same institution. After a brief period on the faculty at CMC, Dr. Sasser lived and worked internationally in the Czech Republic and the United Arab Emirates. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine. 

Dr. Sasser spoke about his experience working in global health and shares invaluable advice and lessons learned throughout his career. The presentation was followed by a Q&A session.

April 25, 2008
01:00 PM - 05:00 PM

April 25, 2008
1-5 pm
Schwartz ‘E’ Lecture Hall, NYU School of Medicine
550 First Avenue

By 1951, malaria was eradicated in the United States mainly through the treatment and prevention methods of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Unfortunately, the disease still exists today and is endemic to over 100 nations in the world. Malaria kills three thousand children every day and one million people every year in Africa alone. Fortunately, it is also one of the most preventable and treatable diseases. Come join us for an educational symposium on malaria and its state today. We will be hosting speakers representing NYU SoM, UNICEF, PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and Doctors Without Borders who will share their insights on malaria and its challenges. BBC World Documentary “Kill or Cure? Deadliest Diseases-Malaria” and a panel discussion made up of invited speakers on the elimination/eradication of malaria are also included in the program. A short reception will follow.

With education and collaboration, malaria can be eradicated worldwide. Help make malaria a disease of the past.

No RSVP is necessary.  This event is free and open to the public.

April 25, 2008
06:30 PM - 08:30 PM

Vanderbilt Hall, Room 210
40 Washington Square South

View an archived streaming video of this event here: livevideo.nyu.edu:8080/ramgen/archive/nyutv/20080425_GPH_PalliativeCare.rm

The World Health Organizations (WHOs) approach to palliative care is not linked specifically to cancer or any other disease; instead, it focuses on addressing the need for palliative care regardless of the health diagnosis. Throughout the world, tens of millions of people are suffering from chronic, life-threatening conditions, and the majority are living in developing countries, where diagnoses tend to occur at a late stage of disease. Often, people have little access to treatment, and resources are quite limited. Consequently, many people are not getting the quality of care they should be receiving. Low-cost approaches can dramatically reduce end-of-life suffering. By focusing on how to bring the best palliative practices to resource-constrained settings, we can improve the lives of patients and their families.  For this engaging evening the NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health was joined by the primary author of the World Health Organization's first ever guide for planning end-of-life care.

Featuring special guest

Cecilia Sepulveda, M.D., M.P.H
Coordinator of the World Health Organization (WHO) Programme on Cancer Control. From 1985 to 1998 Dr. Sepulveda was in charge of the National Cancer and Tobacco Control Programme in Chile, which was developed within the WHO framework. Previously, she worked as a general practitioner in a primary care health setting. She is a graduate of the School of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago.

and

Karen Ryan, M.A.
Director of the International Program for the Pain and Policy Studies Group at the University of Wisconsin, Madison

April 3, 2008
06:30 PM - 08:15 PM

Kimball Hall Lounge
246 Greene Street, 1st Floor

Sponsored by the Steinhardt Public Health Student Group (PHSG) and the NYU Master’s Program in Global Public Health

Students met and learned from the experiences of distinguished panelists working in international health, including:

Susan Gearon, MPH, Technical Advisor, African Medical & Research Foundation

Aboubacar Kampo, MD, MPH, Health Specialist, UNICEF

Kaakpema Yelpaala, MPH, Human Resources Strategy & Recruiting, Clinton Foundation

Refreshments will be served

March 27, 2008
06:30 PM - 08:30 PM

Henry Kaufman Management Center - Cantor Board Room
44 West 4th Street

View archived streaming video of this event here: http://livevideo.nyu.edu:8080/ramgen/archive/nyutv/20080327_GPH_HiddenHunger.rm

Micronutrient malnutrition affects approximately 2 billion people worldwide. The adverse effects of micronutrient deficiencies are profound and include premature death, poor health, blindness, growth stunting, mental retardation, learning disabilities, and low work capacity. Our distinguished guests outlined and discussed an important and innovative way this issue is being addressed: fortifying flour with important vitamins and minerals, and the monitoring and evaluation of the health and nutrition impact of this and similar interventions. Also under discussion were different ways to think about design and implementation of evaluation systems for this public health intervention in developing countries.

featuring:
Juan Pablo Pena-Rosas, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.
Micronutrient Specialist, International Micronutrient Malnutrition Prevention and Control Program (IMMPaCt) - Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Glen Maberly, MB BS BSc(Med) MD FRACP
Professor of Global Health and Director, Center for International Health, Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University; Interim Director, Global Health Institute, Sydney West Area Health Service, Australia

Domingo J Pinero, Ph.D, M.S.
Clinical Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Food Studies, New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

February 28, 2008
06:30 PM - 08:30 PM

The World Health Organization estimates that 400 million people worldwide suffer from some form of mental disorder, while only one in four sufferers are adequately diagnosed and treated. Mental illness accounts for approximately 12 percent of all disease worldwide and half of all measurable disabilities. However, the greatest obstacle that remains in addressing mental health in both developed and developing countries around the world is that is that the problem remains largely ignored by global health policy.

Dr. Thom Bornemann, Director of the Mental Health Program at The Carter Center and Dr. Dolores Malaspina, Chairman of Psychiatry at NYU discussed this problem in terms of how to overcome the barriers blocking the application of research findings to global mental health practice settings and how we can best integrate mental health into the larger public health arena.

View video of this event at livevideo.nyu.edu:8080/ramgen/archive/nyutv/20080228_GlobalMentalHealth.rm 

February 25, 2008
04:30 PM - 05:30 PM

Rogan Kersh, Associate Professor of Public Service and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, discussed the politics and policy of obesity in the United States.

Professor Kersh joined Wagner in September 2006, moving from the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He spent the 2006 spring term as a Visiting Professor in health policy and politics at Yale University. Professor Kersh has been a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow in Health Policy, a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities, and Luce Scholar. His publications include Dreams of a More Perfect Union, a study of American political thought (Cornell University Press, 2001); Medical Malpractice and the U.S. Health Care System: New Century, Different Issues (Cambridge University Press, 2006); and articles and op-ed pieces in numerous academic and popular journals. He is also a frequent television and radio commentator on U.S. political issues. Professor Kersh's professional activities include ongoing work with Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, and board memberships of the Critical Review Foundation and Nancy Susan Reynolds Foundation. At Wagner, Professor Kersh is working with Dean Schall, the faculty, and the administration to recruit faculty, develop curriculum, and to attract, train and prepare the next generation of public service leaders who can accomplish sustainable impact on problems of great social importance. He will also teach at least two classes per year while he is Associate Dean and continue his research activities, which currently focus on the politics of obesity and on interest-group lobbying. Professor Kersh received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale, and his B.A. from Wake Forest University.

December 7, 2007
06:00 PM - 07:30 PM

Department of Medical Parasitology
NYU School of Medicine
341 E. 25th Street (@ 1st Avenue)
New York, NY

The Global MPH program invited those interested in learning more about the program to attend the second of our two fall Open Houses.   The Open Houses are a valuable opportunity to meet our program faculty and staff, learn about the curriculum and concentration areas, hear more about our dual degree programs, and understand the admissions and financial aid processes.  

December 3, 2007
07:00 PM - 09:00 PM

Juan Carlos Center
53 Washington Square South

In her recent book, noted author and public health specialist Dr. Helen Epstein overturned many of our received notions about why AIDS is rampant in Africa and what to do about it. The global health community was invited to join us for a special evening featuring a presentation from Dr. Epstein and a discussion with the author of what is likely one of the most important books on AIDS published in recent times.

View video of this event at livevideo.nyu.edu:8080/ramgen/archive/nyutv/20071203_TheInvisibleCure.rm

November 9, 2007
12:00 PM - 01:00 PM

October 23, 2007
12:00 PM - 01:30 PM

NYU Kimmel Center for University Life, Room 910
60 Washington Square South, NYC

Fourteen years of war left Liberia in ruins and had an especially grievous impact on the health care system.  Given that the old system was destroyed, the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare sees an opportunity to create a new system drawing from best practices.  To date, Liberia has made incredible progress, but significant challenges remain.  Liberian Deputy Minister of Health Tornorlah Varpilah presented an overview of the health sector in Liberia, including the Ministry's vision for health, some recent health system accomplishments, key elements of the new national health policy and plan, the current situation with an emphasis on the human resources gap, and what is being done to address the gap and other issues.  Mr. Alexander Preker, Lead Economist at the World Bank, offered further comment and discussion of the opportunities and challenges faced by the International Development community in supporting the reconstruction of Post Conflict States such as Liberia.


Speaker Biographies:

Tornorlah Varpilah
Deputy Minister of Health for Planning, Research, and Human Resource Development in the Liberia Ministry of Health & Social Welfare.

Minister Varpilah's responsibilities in the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare include the coordination of health research activities, the development of national health plan and policy, overseeing the training of health workers and the day to day management of the department, coordinating external and local resource mobilization, establishing a national health information system, and supervising the processing of health and vital statistics. Minister Varpilah received his B.Sc. in General Chemistry from the University of Liberia and an M.A. in International and Intercultural Management.

Mr. Alexander S. Preker
Lead Economist for Health, Nutrition, and Population, World Bank

Alexander S. Preker is the Lead Economist at the World Bank for West Africa. Mr. Preker has published extensively.  He coordinated the team that prepared the World Bank's Sector Strategy for Health, Nutrition and Population in 1997. While seconded to the World Health Organization during 1999 to 2000, he was one of the coauthors of the World Health Report 2000 on Health Systems:  Measuring Performance and subsequently served as a member of Working Group 3 of the WHO Commission on Macro-Economics and Health. In collaboration with UNICEF, the ILO and several bilateral donors, he recently helped the WHO Regional Office in Brazzaville prepare a Health Financing Strategy for the Africa Region which was adopted by the 56th Regional Council of Health Ministers in August 2006.  He is currently a member of the Task Force on Scaling up Health Education of the Global Health Workforce Alliance and is leading a team of technical experts that is preparing a report on the financial sustainability of scaling up health education in developing countries.  Mr. Preker is the Editor of Bank's HNP Publication Series (www.worldbank.org/hnp/publications) and three web based publications:  Economic Viewpoint , Leadership Forum and HSD Editorial (www.worldbank.org/afr/hnp). He is a member of the Editorial Committee for the Bank's External Operations publication department and on the External Advisory Board for the London School of Economics Health Group London School of Economics Health Group.  He is a member of the teaching faculty for the Berkeley/Barcelona Leadership Forum.  He teaches regularly at Columbia University and McGill University.  His training includes a Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Fellowship in Medicine from University College London, a Diploma in Medical Law and Ethics from Kings College London, and a MD from University of British Columbia/McGill.

View video of this event at livevideo.nyu.edu:8080/ramgen/archive/nyutv/20071023_Liberia1.rm

October 17, 2007
06:00 PM - 07:30 PM

Kimball Hall Lounge
246 Greene Street, Main Floor

The Global MPH program invited those interested in learning more about the program to attend the first of our two fall Open Houses.   The Open Houses are a valuable opportunity to meet our program faculty and staff, learn about the curriculum and concentration areas, hear more about our dual degree programs, and understand the admissions and financial aid processes.   Prospective students also have the opportunity to have any questions you might have about the program answered.

October 9, 2007
07:00 PM - 09:00 PM

Cantor Film Center - Theater 1
36 East 8th Street

"Dead Mums Don't Cry": Averting Maternal Death and Disability in Africa

Part of the ongoing Conversations in Global Public Health series

Click here to view the video of this event.

Over 500,000 maternal deaths occur each year around the world. Virtually all of these deaths occur in Africa, Asia and Latin America - and the vast majority could be prevented. The disparity is most striking when one considers that women in Africa have a 1 in 16 chance of dying in childbirth, as opposed to women in developed countries who have only a 1 in 2,800 chance of dying.

The NYU Master’s Program in Global Public Health is pleased to welcome one doctor who has tirelessly struggled to keep women in her country from dying. Dr. Grace Kodindo is an obstetrician in the poverty-stricken central African country of Chad, where women have a 1 in 11 chance of dying during pregnancy or in childbirth. Dr. Kodindo is one of only 9 obstetricians serving the entire country, and her story is one of resilience and tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds.

Join us for a special screening of "Dead Mums Don't Cry", the BBC s Panorama documentary about Dr. Kodindo s efforts, followed by a presentation and question and answer period with Dr. Kodindo herself. Dr. Kodindo s struggle to bring better health services to Chad in the face of government indifference and a shortage of basic drugs and equipment is an important example of how one person can make a profound difference in the health of many.

Dr. Kodindo will be joined by Samantha Lobis, MPH, who is Senior Program Officer in the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD) at the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. Samantha will provide an overview of AMDD's important work on improving life saving obstetrics services in developing countries.

Moderated by Dr. Lucille Pilling, Clinical Associate Professor of Public Administration, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Sponsored in part by the generous support of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation

October 3, 2007
05:00 PM - 08:30 PM

Kimmel Center for University Life - Eisner & Lubin Auditorium
60 Washington Square South

This event is linked to October 2nd, above.

Click here for more information about the films being offered. Questons? Please contact  212-992-MPH1 or 212-998-5286.

October 2, 2007
05:00 PM - 08:30 PM

Kimmel Center for University Life - Eisner & Lubin Auditorium
60 Washington Square South

This Retrospective of the APHA Film Festival features US and international films that have been shown over the past 3 years at the APHA Annual Meeting as part of the Annual Film/Media festival organized by the APHA Health Communication Working Group. All films are examples of good health communication strategy paired with professional production values and have undergone formative and/or summative evaluation. As part of larger health communication interventions, they have been used to raise awareness of health topics and/or advocate for changes in public health policy as well as community and social health behavior. Key public health areas addressed in this retrospective include: HIV/AIDS; tobacco production and control; obesity and weight control; sexual health; community health and culture; mental illness; environmentally sustainable agriculture and its impact on health; alcoholism; childcare and shaken baby syndrome; and other public health threats. The event is open to the public.

Sponsored by the APHA Health Communication Working Group; the NYU Master of Public Health in Community Public Health at Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development; the NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health; The NYU Steinhardt Public Heath Student Group; the NYU Global Health Alliance; and the NYU Public Health Alliance.

Click here for more information about the films being offered. Questons? Please contact  212-992-MPH1 or 212-998-5286.

September 25, 2007
12:00 PM - 01:30 PM

Pless Hall

82 Washington Square East

1st Floor Lounge

Dr. Ines Dourado of the Health Collective Institute of the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil joins us to give a presentation on her own work, the important activities of the Institute and its history as an important public health program in Brazil.  She will also discuss the Brazilian public health system in general.  We invite you to come meet Dr. Dourado and hear her speak on these important and engaging topics.

Refreshments will be served.  We hope to see you there!

Ines Dourado, MD, MPH, Ph.D is an associate professor and researcher at the Health Collective Institute (www.isc.ufba.br) of the Federal University of Bahia, Northeast Brazil. She is a physician, with masters in public health from University of Massachusetts, and a PhD in epidemiology from the School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). From 2003-2006, she was the Director of the graduate program in public health (Master and Doctoral degrees) of the Institute. Her research is on epidemiology of infectious diseases and she has been deeply involved in the study of human retrovirus (HIV and HTLV) epidemiology and prevention in Brazil. She lives in Salvador (capital city), Bahia state Northeast Brazil. This city has socio-demographic characteristics similar to some African cities and its population is approximately 2.8 million inhabitants of whom the majority is of African descent. In Salvador, HIV-1 incidence is increasing and HTLV-I is endemic.

She is currently a member of different Steering Committees of the Brazilian National AIDS Program: National AIDS Committee and AIDS Epidemiological Surveillance Committee. She is working as an advisor to the AIDS Program of Bahia State Department of Health. In the past, she implemented in Salvador a project to train human resources in the different aspects of the AIDS epidemic and has trained professionals from governmental as well as non governmental organizations. As a result of this project, her Institute has been recognized as a major center to train human resources in HIV/AIDS. The project incorporated training community leaders of low income communities/groups, as well as professionals from Community Health Agents Program. Together with colleagues from France and the Netherlands she has implemented internet and field survey on aspects of male health, sexuality, sexual identity, and preventive behavior for HIV among MSM and she is now involved in planning a multicenter project on MSM in 10 cities in Brazil using RDS technique.

August 7, 2007
06:00 PM - 07:30 PM

Department of Medical Parasitology
NYU School of Medicine
341 E. 25th Street (@ 1st Avenue)
New York, NY

The Global MPH program invites those interested in learning more about the program to attend the second of our two fall Open Houses.   The Open Houses will be a valuable opportunity to meet our program faculty and staff, learn about the curriculum and concentration areas, hear more about our dual degree programs, and understand the admissions and financial aid processes.   You will also have the opportunity to have any questions you might have about the program answered.

Refreshments will be served.  We hope to see you there!