October 9, 2024 – Nearly 200 Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health community members, including alumni, students, faculty, and guests, came together in late September to celebrate Alumni Weekend 2024 with an event focused on public health solutions for climate resilience.
To kick off the weekend, Priti Lakhani, SM ’13, chair of the Alumni Weekend Committee, welcomed participants to a virtual panel on Sept. 26 that addressed the impact of climate change on child development. Panelists included Lindsey Burghardt, MPH ’15, chief science officer at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard, and Shruthi Mahalingaiah, assistant professor of environmental, reproductive, and women’s health in Harvard Chan School’s Department of Environmental Health.
On day two, alumni heard from Katjana Ballantyne, mayor of Somerville, Mass., and Sylvester Turner, former mayor of Houston, Texas, who spoke about the connection between city governance and climate resilience. Moderator Caleb Dresser, director of healthcare solutions at the School’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE), summed up takeaways from the panel: “to work with everyone, prioritize nature-based solutions, learn from impacts, and focus on equity.”
Other sessions included:
A case study led by Joseph Allen, associate professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard Chan School and director of Harvard’s Healthy Buildings Program, and John Macomber of Harvard Business School, focused on ensuring healthy indoor environments.
From left: recent graduates Cynthia Ma, Nile Nair, Casey Dai, Robert Meade
A panel featuring four recent Harvard Chan graduates—Casey Dai, SM ’25, Cynthia Ma, SM ’24, Robert Meade, MPH ’23, and Nile Nair, PhD ’24—and the roles they are playing in tackling the climate crisis.
A panel featuring three experts—Barrak Alahmad, PhD ’22, research fellow in the Department of Environmental Health; Gaurab Basu, C-CHANGE’s director of education and policy and an assistant professor at Harvard Chan School and Harvard Medical School; and Burghardt—who shared moments in their careers when they saw firsthand the harmful health impacts of rising temperatures.
A session led by Augusta Williams, SD ’19, on how health can be used to motivate climate solutions to advance equity.
Award of Merit recipients, from left: Karim Manji, Ananda Sankar Bandyopadhyay, and Yutaka Niihara
A number of awards were presented over the course of the weekend. At a Sept. 27 dinner, guests watched a video highlighting the careers of the 2024 recipients of the Alumni Award of Merit, the highest honor presented to alumni. Recipients included:
Ananda Sankar Bandyopadhyay, MPH ’10, who is driving global polio eradication efforts and leading disease control initiatives around the world
Karim Manji, MPH ’03, an innovator and pioneer in newborn health in Tanzania
Yutaka Niihara, MPH ’06, whose career has focused on treating sickle cell disease
Chander Kapasi, MPH ’75, and J. Jacques Carter, MPH ’83, were presented with the inaugural Clanton-Moser Distinguished Service Award, which was created to recognize dedicated alumni volunteers, like the late Mark Clanton, MPH ’90, and the late Royce Moser, MPH ’65, former presidents of the School’s Alumni Association.
On Sept. 28, Professional Achievement Award Recipients were presented:
Monty Ghosh, MPH ’22, received the Emerging Public Health Professional Award for his work with Canada’s most marginalized populations.
Beverly Lorraine Ho, MPH ’15, received the Leadership Award in Public Health Practice for working to provide every Filipino with accessible, affordable, and quality health care.
Renee Salas, MPH ’16, received the Public Health Innovator Award for her commitment to fighting social injustices and climate change—and the harms to health they cause.
