Global Health in a Fractured World, featuring Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
2025 Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Elisabeth B. Weintz Humanitarian Award Ceremony and Lecture
Presented jointly by The Studio at Harvard Chan School and Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
This year’s recipient of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative 2025 Elisabeth B. Weintz Humanitarian Award is Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, who is being recognized for his extraordinary contributions to humanitarian leadership on the global stage. Throughout his career, Dr. Tedros has championed public health by spearheading international initiatives against HIV/AIDS, malaria, and maternal and child mortality, and by directing robust responses to crises such as Ebola, COVID-19, and mpox. Join us in celebrating his enduring impact on global health and humanitarian action.
This event was previously recorded.
Introduction
Welcome Remarks
Michael VanRooyen
Speaker
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
About The Organizers
The Harvard Chan Studio is the hub for the School’s premier in-person and live-streamed events. We convene global leaders in health policy, advocacy, industry, and research for insightful conversations about public health’s most pressing challenges and most promising solutions.
The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is a university-wide academic and research center in humanitarian crisis and leadership. Our mission is to create new knowledge and advance evidence-based leadership in disasters and humanitarian crisis. Our work focuses on two main areas: the Humanitarian Academy at Harvard and Research & Translation.
Learn more about Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
Beyond the Feed: Social Media, Content Creators, Mental Health, and Digital Well-being
Join us for a timely conversation at the intersection of social media and youth well-being. Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED) trainees Katrine Bønneland Tølbøll, MSc, MA, and Yuning Liu, MBBS, MS, will explore how content creators shape online spaces, the implications for mental health, and strategies for fostering healthier digital environments. This seminar will highlight fresh perspectives from emerging scholars and spark dialogue on how to move beyond the feed toward meaningful change.
Date: Thursday, October 30, 2025
Time: 1:00pm – 1:50pm ET
Location: Hybrid; in person & online
In-person location: FXB G13 at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Registration link: Registration required, register here
Cosponsors: STRIPED, Center for Health Communication, and Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Speaker Information
Yuning Liu, MBBS, MS
Katrine Bønneland Tølbøll, MSc, MA
Art Exhibit Opening Reception: Call and Response
Please join us to celebrate the opening of our newest art exhibit: “Call and Response: A Narrative of Reverence to our Foremothers in Gynecology.”
Countway Library is thrilled to host this exhibit, on loan from the Resilient Sisterhood Project through mid-January. “Call and Response” sheds light on the exploitation of enslaved Black women in the origins of modern gynecology, centering the lives of Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy—three women subjected to repeated experimental surgeries by Dr. J. Marion Sims in the 1840s. Curated by the Resilient Sisterhood Project with artist Jules Arthur, the exhibition blends past and present, honoring these foremothers while highlighting generations of Black women who transformed medicine. This powerful narrative invites us to unearth history, confront the present, and imagine a more just future for reproductive health. Learn more about the exhibit at countway.info/call.
The opening reception will feature artist and curator statements, a panel discussion, the unveiling of the newest addition to the collection, live music by pianist Kimie Han, and light refreshments. All are welcome!
Please register at countway.info/callreception
Speaker Information
Organizers
Countway Cinema: Run from Rain
Join Countway Library and the HMS Department of Global Health and Social Medicine for a film screening followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers of “Run from Rain!” This powerful short documentary captures one boy’s resilience amid displacement and instability.
Directed by journalists and filmmakers Jess DiPierro Obert and Jacki Huntington, Run from Rain offers an intimate portrait of survival, hope, and belonging in a country under siege. Follow 16-year-old Macul Nelson as he rebuilds his life after losing his parents to gang violence in Haiti.
Speaker Information
Jacki Huntington
Jess DiPierro Obert
Organizers
20th Kolokotrones Symposium – Acetaminophen During Pregnancy and Autism: What Does Causal Inference Take?
CAUSALab is thrilled to invite you to the 20th Kolokotrones Symposium at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health!
“Acetaminophen During Pregnancy and Autism: What Does Causal Inference Take?” features four expert talks and a panel discussion.
The symposium will provide an introduction to the epidemiology of autism, present what is currently known about the association of acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism, describe possible explanations for this association, and explore the challenges and opportunities to design better studies to estimate the causal effect. The symposium will conclude with an expert panel that will consider the question: where do we go from here?
NOTE: In-person attendance is limited to Harvard ID holders due to space restrictions. Online attendance is free and open to the public. Limited spots are available, so please register now to reserve your spot.
Speakers
Marc Weisskopf
Krista Huybrechts
Brian Lee
Sonia Hernández-Díaz
Alec Walker
Organizers
A Health Datathon: Data for the Public Good
Join Countway librarians, members of the Public Environmental Data Partners, and fellow data enthusiasts to capture and preserve our public health care data in the Climate and Health Research Coordinating Center Harvard Dataverse Collection. Celebrate Open Access Week by ensuring access to federal environmental data.
Organizers
US Life Table Program: Data Challenges, Methodological Solutions, and Moving into the Future
Join us on Wednesday, November 19 for the Epidemiology Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Elizabeth Arias discussing US Life Table Program: Data Challenges, Methodological Solutions, and Moving into the Future.
Abstract: The presentation will provide a historical overview of the US Life Table Program and a summary of the data challenges and methodological solutions employed over the years. The talk will include a description of the US National Vital Statistics System with its inherent challenges and limitations. Specific topics covered will include old age data quality, racial and ethnic misclassification, and small geographic area estimates. The goals for the future of the program will be discussed.
Bio: Dr. Elizabeth Arias is the Director of the US Life Table Program and the Mortality Statistics and Research Team Lead in the Division of Vital Statistics, at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Dr. Arias received her Ph.D. in Sociology (Demography) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At NCHS, Dr. Arias has worked to expand the US Life Table Program’s racial, ethnic, and geographic coverage, developing methods to address data quality limitations. Under her leadership, the program has expanded from two race groups to five race and Hispanic origin populations, annual state life tables, and life tables by census tracts. Dr. Arias also conducts research on racial and ethnic mortality disparities with a special focus on the Hispanic population.
Speaker Information
Elizabeth Arias, PhD
Organizers
Related Events
The Science Behind the Cancer Prevention Studies
Join us on Wednesday, November 12th for a joint seminar of the Department of Epidemiology and the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, featuring Dr. Alpa Patel discussing The Science Behind the Cancer Prevention Studies.
Abstract: This talk will present a brief history of the Cancer Prevention Studies, a series of large, nationwide prospective cohort studies conducted by the American Cancer Society generationally since the 1950’s. These studies have been instrumental along with other cohorts, such as those conducted at Harvard University, in advancing cancer prevention and control as well as cancer survivorship and outcomes. This talk will present the construct of these cohorts, availability of data and biologic specimens, and key findings from each of the studies.
Bio: Dr. Alpa V. Patel earned her Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida, her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, and her Doctoral degree in Preventive Medicine with a concentration in Epidemiology from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. She is the Senior Vice President of Population Science at the American Cancer Society and serves as the principal investigator of the Cancer Prevention Studies (CPS) II and 3, two long-term, large-scale, epidemiologic cohort studies established by the American Cancer Society. Combined, these two cohorts include over 1.5 million participants with a variety of over 400,000 biologic samples (such as blood, buccal cells, saliva, stool, and tumor tissue). Additionally, as the co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Patel and team launched the largest ever cancer cohort of Black women in the U.S. aimed to enroll at least 100,000 Black women to understand the multi-level drivers of cancer risk and outcomes in this population. Dr. Patel is a recognized leader in cancer epidemiology with particular emphases on the role of physical inactivity, obesity, sedentary behavior and cancer as well as risk assessment and blood-based markers of cancer detection. She has published nearly 300 scientific articles and book chapters, and her research has contributed significantly to national and international cancer prevention guidelines, such as the US Physical Activity Guidelines for Health and the American Cancer Society’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines for both cancer prevention and cancer survivorship.
Speaker Information
Alpa Patel, PhD
Organizers
Related Events
Ben Johnson: Introducing Nature Health
Join us for this exciting opportunity to hear about the new journal Nature Health from its chief editor, Ben Johnson. Ben will discuss the aims, scope, and themes of the journal and will answer questions from the audience.
Ben Johnson trained in infectious diseases, with an undergraduate degree in virology from the University of Warwick, UK, a PhD in influenza virus from Public Health England and the University of Reading, UK, and a postdoc on smallpox vaccines at Imperial College London. Ben has more than 15 years of experience in publishing, journalism, communications and engagement, including as an Associate Publisher at BMC, Head of Communities & Engagement at Springer Nature and Senior Magazine Editor at Nature Medicine, with responsibility for news and opinion content. He has a strong interest in research conducted in resource-limited settings, including in the global south, in how research influences health policy and in equitable strategies to involve patients and communities in research. He is based in the London office.
Visit the Nature Health website to learn more about the new journal.
Speaker Information
Ben Johnson
Organizers
Social Demography Seminar with Atheendar Venkataramani
Atheendar Venkataramani, PhD, associate professor, medical ethics and health policy, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, presents “Political power and mortality: Heterogeneous effects of the U.S. Voting Rights Act.” This seminar is co-sponsored by the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The Social Demography Seminar (SDS) series at the Center for Population and Development Studies provides a lively forum for scholars from across the university to discuss in-progress social scientific and population research. Social demography includes work that uses demographic methods to describe and explain the distribution of social goods across populations. The hybrid series offers presentations on a wide variety of topics such as family, gender, race/ethnicity, population health—including mortality, morbidity, and functional health—inequality, immigration, fertility, and the institutional arrangements that shape and respond to population processes.
This event is open to the public. Please RSVP if you plan on attending.