Grand Rounds Series
The theme for the 2024-2025 Grand Rounds on the Future of Public Health 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. The 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
What Does It Take To Build Social Capital?
Thursday, March 27, 2025
Mary Beth Terry, PhD
Professor of Epidemiology (in Environmental Health Sciences)
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
John Werner, BA
Chief Information Officer, MIT Connection Science
Founder, Ideas in Action
Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH (Moderator)
Dean and DeLamar Professor of Public Health
Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
In an era of conflict, crisis, disinformation, fragmentation, and breakdowns in social capital and belief in collective action, accomplishing the public's health is more challenging than ever. Join us for a discussion on why reinforcing and building social connectivity is a vital public health resource.
Global Food Systems’ Effect on Nutrition and Food Security
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Francesco Branca MD, PhD
Invited Professor, Institute of Global Health
Geneva University
Jessica Fanzo, PhD (Moderator)
Professor of Climate and Director of the Food Humanity Initiative
Columbia Climate School
The Political Determinants of Health
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Daniel E. Dawes, JD
Senior Vice President, Global Health and Founding Dean,
School of Global Health at Meharry Medical College
Author of The Political Determinants of Health and 150 Years of ObamaCare
Michael Sparer, JD, PhD (moderator)
Chair and Professor, Health Policy and Management
Columbia Mailman School of Public Health
In his new book entitled The Political Determinants of Health, Daniel E. Dawes, JD, argues that the key to understanding and addressing the extraordinary inequities in the U.S. health system is to focus on politics, political behaviors, political decision-making, and the resulting public policies. At this upcoming Grand Rounds, he and Michael Sparer will discuss the political process by which health policy emerges, and the political strategies that are needed to reduce health disparities and to create a more equitable society.
Public Health in Times of War and Conflict
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Seema Jilani, MD, FAAP
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Fulbright Scholar
Truman National Security Fellow
Baylor College of Medicine
Texas Children's Hospital
L. H. Lumey, MD, PhD
Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Medical Center
Sid Naing, MBBS, MPH, MPA
Research Scholar, Yale University
Thoại D. Ngô, PhD, MHS (moderator)
Professor & Chair, Heilbrunn Department of Population & Family Health
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Leading global public health scholars and practitioners will share their deep personal and professional experiences in responding to the health needs in conflict zones. They will discuss the vital role of the global public health community, share firsthand insights into navigating the complex politics of delivering essential public health interventions during conflicts, and explore strategies to protect health and well-being amidst crises.
Employing Empathetic Objectivity Across Difference
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
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
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.