FXB Center update

To the Harvard Chan community,

I’m writing to share an update about the FXB Center for Health & Human Rights. Over the past years, FXB has worked on a wide range of programs within the context of human rights, extending across varied projects, including those related to oppression, poverty, and stigma around the world.

We believe we can accomplish more, and have greater impact, if we go deeper in a primary area of focus. Therefore, going forward, FXB will focus on children’s health—particularly during early development, when children are most vulnerable—and bring its unique, human rights perspective to this area of critical importance to public health.

As part of this transition in focus, effective Jan. 9, 2026, Mary T. Bassett will step down as director of the FXB Center after seven years in the role. I want to thank Mary for her stewardship of the center, and I am pleased to say that she will continue as a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. During Mary’s tenure, FXB has done high-impact work across a range of pressing issues, from the health needs of communities subject to historic discrimination and marginalization to those of populations in conflict zones; from the health of migrants and refugees to that of other displaced groups.

To help set the new direction of FXB, I have asked Kari C. Nadeau, chair of the Department of Environmental Health and John Rock Professor of Climate and Population Studies at Harvard Chan School and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, to serve as interim director of the FXB Center. Kari is a pediatrician with a distinguished record of scholarship focusing on children’s early development, their health and their rights, as well as broad experience working with child-focused global and national agencies on these issues. She will lead a transition initiative at the FXB Center in the coming months.

The François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights was established in 1993 through a gift from Albina du Boisrouvray following the death of her only child, François-Xavier Bagnoud, at age 24 during a helicopter mission in Mali. Albina sought to perpetuate the values, generosity, and compassion that motivated François-Xavier, who strove especially to protect children.

The newly intensified focus on children’s health and rights is consistent with FXB’s distinguished history and foundational values, and I am confident that it will continue producing significant, meaningful work going forward.

Please join me in thanking Mary for her leadership and welcoming Kari to her new role.

Best,

Andrea

Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD
Dean of the Faculty