Alumni & Reunion Weekend

Battlegrounds and Beyond: Unraveling the Public Health Impact of War and Conflict (Online) 

12:00–1:00 pm

For those populations living directly in war zones, the immediate health implications are obvious and brutal,  denying people some of the most basic needs for existence. But in many ways seen and unseen, the devastating repercussions of war extend far beyond the battlefield. Sanitation and water infrastructure breakdown and manufactured scarcity of essential resources create nearly unlivable environments ripe for disease outbreak and human suffering. But, war is not an inevitable part of the human condition. It is a global health crisis in need of intervention. Mary Bassett and Yara Asi will discuss the implications of war on public health and the prevention strategies that could benefit millions of current and future vulnerable populations. 

Speaker: Yara Asi, Visiting Scholar at FXB Center for Health & Human Rights at Harvard University, Assistant Professor at University of Central Florida

Moderator: Mary Bassett, Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, FXB Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard Chan School

UMass Club

One Beacon Street

32nd floor, Boston, MA 02108

Gift planning basics—for you, for your family, and for Harvard Chan School

FXB Atrium
9:00–10:00 am 

What is gift planning? How does it integrate with your overall wealth plan and does it make sense for you? How can it benefit you, your family, and the causes you care about? This session will explore strategies for generating income, transferring wealth, and creating a legacy. Whether new to gift planning or looking to refine approaches, this conversation will offer valuable insights and real-world perspectives tailored to the School’s alumni community. 

Speakers: Al Halliday, Director of Gift Planning at Harvard University; Joe Cappelleri, MPH ’93, Executive Director of Biostatistics at Pfizer

Case study with Vish Viswanath and Rick Siegrist: “Happiness and Health: The Management Philosophy of Lee Kum Kee Group” 

Kresge G1
10:30–11:45 am

Association meeting and professional awards luncheon

Kresge Cafeteria
12:00–1:00 pm

The role of AI in public health

Kresge G1
1:15–2:00 pm

Led by: Austin Crumpton, Associate Director of Climate and Health Resilience at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and José Acosta, MPH ‘23, Professor of Surgery at Ponce Health Sciences University

Coffee Break

Outside of Kresge G1
2:00–2:15 pm

How do public health leaders navigate an uncertain world?

Kresge G1
2:15–3:00 pm

What does it mean to be a public health leader? How have the monumental shifts in the public health landscape changed how the work is done? What are the short and long-term impacts on leadership in public health? And what advice do current leaders have for others who are also navigating these uncharted waters?

Panelists: Bryan O. Buckley, DrPH ‘20, Head of Public Health at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Assistant Professor in Medicine at Georgetown University; Stephanie Kang, DrPH ‘20, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Health Equity, at Massachusetts Department of Public Health; and Eirliani “Lin” Abdul Rahman, DrPH ’24, Research Affiliate at the Minderoo Centre for Tech & Democracy, University of Cambridge

Moderator: Isha Nirola, DrPH ‘21, Senior Health Consultant at The World Bank

Using values-based storytelling to shift the public health conversation: A hands-on workshop 

Kresge G1
3:00–4:00 pm 

Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools in health communication—capable of shifting beliefs, building trust, and inspiring action. In this session, we explore why stories stick when facts alone fall flat, and how to harness narrative as a strategy for building community trust and public health impact. Participants will learn how to tell stories about the values that call them to their work and how to craft a narrative-based call-to-action. 

Led by: Amanda Yarnell, Senior Director, Center for Health Communication, Lecturer in Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard Chan School; Elissa Scherer, Communications Coordinator, Center for Health Communication at Harvard Chan School

Michael C. Fiore, MPH ’85  

Madison, Wisconsin 

Matthew Mimiaga, SD ’07  

Los Angeles, California 

Anthony Chen, MPH ’06  

Seattle, Washington 

Morissa Henn, DrPH ’19  

Concord, New Hampshire 

Eugenio Fernandez, MPH ’16

Providence, Rhode Island