Public Health Equity Week

This year during the week of October 10th, 2022, the School is devoting a series of programming around public health equity – and inequity. Public health must move the needle forward on promoting and supporting health equity and ending health disparities for all populations. Our remit is not small: it’s to build a healthy and just world.

All in-person participants are required to have their primary series and one booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines. Visitors should be prepared to show proof of vaccination while on campus.

We value inclusion and access for all participants and are pleased to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.  If you need a reasonable accommodation to attend this event, please contact Disability Services at disability@columbia.edu or via phone 212-854-2388. All requests should be made at least 10 days in advance. We will attempt to fulfill requests made after this date, but cannot guarantee they will be met.

October 10-14, Menstrual Equity Week

(Open to Columbia students, faculty, staff, and alumni)

Menstrual Equity Week is a cross-campus education, advocacy, and action event from October 10-14th, 2022. Events throughout the week will focus on key menstrual health issues and recent policy developments, along with opportunities for action. Speakers will join us from Columbia University, local and global organizations. Students, staff, and faculty will all be welcome.

Monday, October 10,  Global Mental Health (GMH)@Mailman

11:00 a.m. | Hess Commons, Allan Rosenfield Building, 722 West 168th Street

We are pleased to open Public Health Equity Week on October 10th, World Mental Health Day, with the launch of Gloval Mental Health (GMH)@Mailman. Join us for a conversation about global and population mental health at the Mailman School of Public Health.

Introductory Remarks 

• Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, Dean of Columbia Mailman School of Public Health  
• Kathleen Sikkema, PhD, Stephen Smith Professor and Chair, Department of Sociomedical Sciences  
• Ezra Susser, MD, DrPH, Professor of Epidemiology  

Panel Discussion 

• Alejandra Paniagua-Avila, MD, MPH, DrPH Candidate, Epidemiology 
• Claire Greene, PhD, Assistant Professor of Forced Migration and Health 
• Jeremy Kane, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology 
• Kathryn Lovero, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sociomedical Sciences 
• Robert Fullilove, EdD, Professor of Sociomedical Sciences, Associate Dean for Community and Minority Affairs 

Lenapehoking: On Indigenous Epistemologies and the Idea of the University

3:30 p.m. | 8th Floor Auditorium, Allan Rosenfield Building, 722 West 168th Street

A Lenape Center Commemoration of Indigenous Peoples Day. Please join Lenape Center's Executive Director, Joe Baker, and Co-Directors Curtis Zunigha and Hadrien Coumans, for a dynamic discussion on how academic institutions such as Columbia, can draw on Lenape epistemologies to reconstitute the university's knowledge production process. This event is open to Columbia students, faculty and staff. 

Book Launch: "Hope Over Fate: Fazle Hasan Abed and the Science of Ending Global Poverty"

4:00 p.m. | Hess Commons, Allan Rosenfield Building, 722 West 168th Street 

The Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health and the Dean's Office host a book launch for "Hope Over Fate: Fazle Hasan Abed and the Science of Ending Global Poverty," a book by Scott MacMillan about the founder of BRAC, an international organization based in Bangladesh that empowers people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease, and social injustice. Please see more details and register for the event here. 

Panel Discussion

• Scott MacMillan, author, and Director of Learning and Innovation, BRAC
• A. Mushtaque Chowdhury, PhD, Professor of Clinical, Population and Family Health, Founding Dean and Adviser, BRAC University's James P. Grant School of Public Health and Former vice-chairperson, BRAC
• Lynn Freedman, JD, MPH, Professor, Population and Family Health, Director, Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD)
• Cassie Landers, EdD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Population and Family Health, Co-Director, CPC Learning Network

Tuesday, October 11, Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen and guest Ashwin Vasan

3:00 p.m. | Hess Commons, Allan Rosenfield Building, 722 West 168th Street 

Join us for a taping of the podcast Person Place Thing, hosted by Randy Cohen, former New York Times columnist and Late Night with David Letterman writer. His guest will be Ashwin Vasan, ScM, MD, PhD, who will discuss one person, one place, and one thing that have influenced his life and work. For more event details, please visit the registration page. 

• Randy Cohen, Creator and Host of Person Place Thing
• Ashwin Vasan, ScM, MD, PhD, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and Assistant Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health and Medicine at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Wednesday, October 12, Ending Black-White Health Disparities: The Case for Reparations

12th Annual Isidore I. Benrubi Distinguished Lecture in the History and Ethics of Public Health 

4:00 p.m. | Alumni Auditorium, William Black Building, 650 West 168th Street 

The Isidore I. Benrubi Distinguished Lecture Series is presented by the Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The event will feature a presentation by Mary T. Bassett, MD, MPH, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health.

Thursday, October 13, CUIMC EnERGize: Inaugural Staff DEIB Summit

9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. | Columbia School of Nursing, 560 West 168th Street, 7th Floor 

We encourage you to attend the CUIMC EnERGize Inaugural Staff Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Summit. The theme for the day is Valuable, Visible, Voices. The Summit will feature a keynote address, panel disussions, workshops, performances, refreshments and a networking reception. For more event details, please visit the registration page. 

Keynote Speaker: Erwin de Leon, PhD, Chief Diversity Officer, and lecturer in the Nonprofit Management Program at Columbia University School of Professional Studies 

Documentary Screening: The Skin You’re In

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. | Virtual Event

Join Executive Producer and Writer, Thomas A. LaVeist, PhD, Dean of Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, for a virtual screening of a documentary about racial health injustice. Dean LaVeist will be oncampus to present at The Dean's Grand Rounds on the Future of Public Health on October 19. Register for the screening here and Grand Rounds here.