Global Health and the Economy
Jeffrey D. Sachs, Ph.D.
January 20, 5 P.M.
P&S Alumni Auditorium
630 W. 168th St.

Jeffrey D. Sachs is the director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and professor of health policy and management at Columbia University, and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is also special advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Global Health and Human Rights
Richard Garfield, Dr.P.H.
Ronald Waldman, M.D., M.P.H.
February 3, 5:30 P.M.
P&S, 1st floor amphitheater
630 W. 168th St.

Richard Garfield is a professor of nursing and coordinator of a WHO/PAHO Nursing Collaborating Center at Columbia University and visiting professor at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He combines a qualitative perspective of community health promotion and the quantitative skills of epidemiology to assess morbidity and mortality changes among civilian groups in humanitarian crises around the world. He has assessed the impact of economic embargoes in Cuba, Haiti, Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Liberia for national governments and UN organizations. He visited Iraq 6 times during 1996 - 2003 to collaborate with UNICEF, the World Food Program, and the Iraqi Ministry of Health and, since the 2003 war, he has worked in Iraq for WHO and UNICEF to assist in reconstruction, manage reactivation of health services, and prepare the post-Oil for Food UN program.

Ron Waldman is a professor of clinical population and family health and deputy director of the Center for Global Health and Economic Development. He is the former director and founder of the program on Forced Migration and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health. He is the immediate past-chairman of the International Health Section of the American Public Health Association. He has extensive experience in international political emergencies and in child health in developing countries.

Life Under Stress: Welcome to the Twenty-first Century
Dickson Despommier, Ph.D.
February 10, 5:30 P.M.
Hammer Health Sciences Center, Room 401
701 W. 168th St.

Dickson Despommier is professor of environmental health sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health and professor of microbiology at Columbia's College of Physicians & Surgeons.

AIDS Panel Discussion
Sarah J. Schlesinger, M.D.
Elaine J. Abrams, M.D.
February 24 at 5:30 P.M.
Hammer Health Sciences Center, Room 401
701 W. 168th St.

Sarah J. Schlesinger M.D. is a research associate professor in the laboratory of cellular immunology and physiology at The Rockefeller University and a research scientist at The Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, a world-renowned biomedical research institute. Dr. Schlesinger has been actively engaged in HIV/AIDS and HIV vaccine research for 10 years, and has published over 50 papers on the subject. Dr. Schlesinger led the Dendritic Cell program at the Division of Retrovirology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (1990-2002) She is now an active member of the research team at Aaron Diamond that is devoting considerable efforts to develop a vaccine to halt the spread of the AIDS epidemic.

Elaine J. Abrams is the associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of the Family Care Center at Harlem Hospital. Her work has primarily focused on pediatric HIV infection, transmission of infection from mother to child, and the natural history of the disease in children. She is also interested in the development of comprehensive care and treatment programs for women and children in the US and abroad.

Drug/Care Accessibility and Vaccine Development Panel
Seth F. Berkley, M.D.
Eve Slater
Roy Vagelos, M.D.
March 2, 5:30 P.M.
Hammer Health Sciences Center, Room 401
701 W. 168th St.

Seth Berkley is a medical doctor specializing in infectious-disease epidemiology and international health. Dr. Berkley is the president and founder of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a global organization working to speed the search for vaccines to prevent AIDS and see that they will be rapidly available to all who need them. IAVI's focus is the developing world, where the epidemic has taken a disproportionate toll. Prior to founding IAVI, Dr. Berkley was the associate director of the Health Sciences Division at the Rockefeller Foundation. Dr. Berkley is also an adjunct associate professor of Public Health at Columbia University and of Medicine at Brown University.

Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as assistant secretary, Eve Slater was senior vice president of Merck Research Laboratories external policy and vice president of corporate public affairs, the first woman to attain this rank. Dr. Slater supervised worldwide regulatory activities for all Merck medicines and vaccines, which included responsibility for working with the Food and Drug Administration.

Often referred to as "the father of pharmaco-philanthropy," Roy Vagelos was senior vice president of research for Merck and served as chief executive officer from 1985 to 1994 and as chairman of the board from 1986 to 1994. Under his direction, the company expanded its philanthropic efforts and set the standard in that area for other pharmaceutical companies.

Infectious Diseases (TB/Malaria) Panel
Maria Freire, Ph.D.
Waafa El-Sadr, M.D., M.P.H.
March 9, 5:30 P.M.
Hammer Health Sciences Center, Room 401
701 W. 168th St.

Maria Freire is a former Director of NIH's Office of Technology Transfer and current CEO of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. She is a well known and highly regarded professional with experience working across government, industry, and nonprofit sectors internationally.

Waafa El-Sadr is professor of clinical medicine in the Department of Epidemiology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and chief, Division of Infectious Diseases at Harlem Hospital. She is also director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Epidemiologic Research and of the MTCT Plus Initiative at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, whose purpose is to expand HIV/AIDS care in resource-limited settings in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Her research interests are in HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

Periodontal Infections and Systemic Health
Dr. Panos Papapanou, D.D.S., Ph.D.
March 23, 5:30 P.M.
P&S, 1st floor amphitheater
630 W. 168th St.

Panos Papapanou is professor of dentistry, chairman of the Section of Oral and Diagnostic Sciences, and director of the Division of Periodontics at the Columbia School of Dental and Oral Surgery.

Global Health: A Focus on Women
Allan Rosenfield, M.D.
April 20, 5:30 P.M.
Hammer Health Sciences Center, Room 401
701 W. 168th St.

Allan Rosenfield is dean of the Mailman School of Public Health.

Global Health and Human Rights: 'Pragmatic Solidarity' as a Path to Health Justice
Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D.
May 3, 5:30 P.M.
P&S Alumni Auditorium
630 W. 168th St.

Medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer has dedicated his life to treating some of the world's poorest populations, in the process helping to raise the standard of health care in underdeveloped areas of the world. He is a founding director of Partners In Health, an international charity organization that provides direct health-care services and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. Dr. Farmer and his colleagues at Partners In Health have successfully challenged the policymakers and critics who claim that quality health care is impossible to deliver in resource-poor areas.