Grand Rounds Series

The theme for the 2024-2025 Grand Rounds series is Urgent Care: Public Health and the World Today. In an era of conflict, crisis, disinformation and fragmentation, public health is more challenging - and more urgent - than ever. 2024-25’s Grand Rounds will look at the role of public health in current affairs, and the way current affairs are impacting public health. Together we’ll engage in discussions about today’s greatest public health challenges, how to learn across differences, potential compromises and solutions, and apply an interdisciplinary lens to understand how some of the biggest debates of the moment are shaping the sector. From themes like the political determinants of health, understanding the toll of inequality on the health of people, and the health consequences of war and crisis, Grand Rounds will focus on threats to public health today as well as what we need to address them. 

Grand Rounds was initiated in 2008 at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health to create an intellectual space within which to explore national and global public health challenges and the innovative approaches needed to transform the public’s health in the 21st century. 

We value inclusion and access for all participants and are pleased to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. If you require disability accommodation to attend this event, please contact disability@columbia.edu no later than 10 days prior to event date. We will work with our colleagues at Disability Services to fulfill requests made after this date, but cannot guarantee they will be met.

For questions, please message public_health_events@cumc.columbia.edu.

2024-2025 Events 

​Employing Empathetic Objectivity Across Difference

​Tuesday, September 17, 2024 | 11:30 a.m. - 12:50 p.m. 
Virtual Event ​

Ari Goldman 
Professor Emeritus of Journalism 
Columbia Journalism School

Gregory Khalil 
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Journalism  
Columbia Journalism School  

Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH (Moderator) 
Dean and DeLamar Professor of Public Health
Director, Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center 

Ari Goldman and Gregory Khalil co-teach "Covering Religion" at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism--despite often opposing worldviews on topics they regularly discuss, including Israel/Palestine. They will share how they together navigate their personal convictions to teach responsible and ethical standards of journalism to diverse groups of students, and how these skills might transfer to the field of public health.

Understanding the Toll of Race and Inequality on Health

​Thursday, October 24, 2024
11:30 a.m. - 12:50 p.m. 
Allan Rosenfield Building, 722 W. 168th Street, 8th Floor Auditorium | Zoom Webinar 
Columbia University students, faculty and staff are invited to join in-person. Columbia Alumni and members of the public are invited to join us virtually.

Linda Villarosa, Journalist and Author of Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and Health of our Nation, Journalism Professor, City College of New York Professor, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism  

"America is the wealthiest country in the world -- and spends more on medical care than any other nation. Yet, we have the poorest health outcomes. Racial disparities in health, from birth to the end of life, have remained stubbornly in place for decades or longer, even among educated, wealthy Black Americans. My talk will discuss these issues, and lean into solutions informed by my perspective as a journalist."

Presentation followed by a moderated discussion and Audience Q&A with Yvonne Ortiz, MEd. Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. 


Save the Date: The Political Determinants of Health

​Thursday, January 23, 2025

Daniel E. Dawes, JD
Senior Vice President, Global Health, and Founding Dean and Professor, School of Global Health, Meharry Medical College
Author of “The Political Determinants of Health” and “150 Years of ObamaCare”

Additional details and registration link to be announced.