February 6, 2012
JHU group to convene workshop on noncommunicable diseases
The United Nations recently placed the crisis of noncommunicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries at the top of its agenda for global health and development. In an effort to develop a program for meeting this challenge, the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise, or IHEGHSBE, and the Global Health Council will this week convene a workshop bringing together leading experts in a range of disciplines to address gaps in related policy and research. The event, which is open only to invited guests, will be held Feb. 9 in Washington, D.C.
Participants from Johns Hopkins are Sir George Alleyne, a professor in the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, who is also the United Nations secretary-general’s special envoy for HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean region, and director emeritus of the Pan American Health Organization; Robert Black, the Edgar Berman Professor of International Health and chair of the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School; Louis Galambos, professor in the Department of History in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, and co-director of IHEGHSBE; Thomas Quinn, professor and founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health; and Jeffrey Sturchio, a visiting scholar at IHEGHSBE and a senior partner at Rabin Martin, a leading global health consultancy.
Other speakers include Smita Baruah, interim co-CEO of the Global Health Council; Felicia Marie Knaul, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative; Richard Laing, a medical officer at the World Health Organization; Soeren Mattke, a senior scientist at the RAND Corp.; Sania Nishtar, the first female cardiologist in Pakistan and founder of Heartfile; Kenji Shibuya, founder of the Japan Institute for Global Health; and Brian White-Guay, professor of pharmacy at the University of Montreal.
The organizers say they hope that the event will begin the process of converting general international goals into specific policies and practical steps to improve health care and extend life in countries faced with the increasing burden of chronic noncommunicable disease.
The workshop is supported by an educational grant from the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations.