Global public health experts will speak about the challenges posed by austerity and climate change at an event organised by Gates Cambridge Trust and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation next week.
Global public health experts will speak about the challenges posed by austerity and climate change at an event organised by Gates Cambridge Trust and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation next week.
The event, Global health in an era of austerity, conflict and climate change: defining achievable goals, will take place at the Royal Society in London on 21st May.
Speakers are Professor Jeremy Farrar, Head of the Welcome Trust; Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and former head of Medical Research Council who will address the role of universities in addressing global health challenges; Dr Julia Fan Li [2008], a Gates Cambridge Scholar who has just become Director of the $94m Global Health Investment Fund, which aims to finance late-stage global health technologies that have the potential to save millions of lives in low-income countries; and Dr Andrew Robertson [2001], a Gates Cambridge Scholar and Trustee who is Director of Global Regulatory Policy at Merck & Co who will address drug development and sustainability.
They will debate issues around global health policy, funding, advocacy, partnerships, research and successes and failures. Questions which will be covered during the discussion include how the global economic crisis is impacting global health goals, global health philanthropy, whether there be more focus on non-communicable disease like cardiovascular disease, how conflict impacts on global health projects and whether climate change is bringing in a new communicable disease crisis.
The event will be moderated by Dr Tine Van Bortel, Senior Research Associate in Public Health at the Cambridge Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge.
It will be the second annual event hosted by Gates Cambridge and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and in attendance will be a large number of Gates Cambridge Scholars and Alumni as well as Gates Cambridge Trustees and other distinguished guests.
Professor Barry Everitt, Provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust, said: “We are delighted to co-host this discussion event on the important theme of “Global Health in an era of austerity, conflict and climate change: defining achievable goals” with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Cambridge mission is to create a network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others and events like this help sustain that network and to facilitate interesting connections beyond it.”
*Follow the event on our Twitter feed here. Read the event brochure here.
