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 

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”  

Michael Sparer, JD, PHD (moderator)
Chair and Professor, Health Policy and Management
Columbia Mailman School of Public Health

Additional details and registration link to be announced. 


Previous Events 

Public Health in Times of War and Conflict

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Grand Rounds: Public Health in Times of Conflict and War

Seema Jilani, M.D., F.A.A.P.  
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 

​Employing Empathetic Objectivity Across Difference

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

Understanding the Toll of Race and Inequality on Health

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.