Free event will include speaker Ertharin Cousin, panel discussion with UChicago faculty
The University of Chicago will host a May 18 event celebrating the official launch of the Susan and Richard Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development.
Free and open to the public, the 2 p.m. event at Edith Abbott Hall—home to UChicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice. It will feature visiting speaker Ertharin Cousin, former executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme, who will discuss challenges and opportunities in the field of global health and development.
Ertharin Cousin
Cousin, now a fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Center on Food Security and Environment, will be in conversation with Assoc. Prof. Alida Bouris from the Crown Family School. Their discussion will focus on pressing global health challenges and why there is reason for optimism for the future.
The Kiphart Center launch event also will feature a UChicago faculty panel discussion exploring innovative approaches to community health and well-being. The panel will include Asst. Profs. Zhiying Ma and Alan Zarychta of the Crown Family School, along with Assoc. Prof. Kavi Bhalla and Prof. Mercedes Pascual of the Biological Sciences Division. Prof. Diane Lauderdale, chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences, will moderate the talk.
“They will illustrate how their research contributes to our understanding of diverse and innovative approaches to improve health and well-being in marginalized communities around the world,” said Robert Chaskin, faculty director of the Kiphart Center and the McCormick Foundation Professor at the Crown Family School.
President Paul Alivisatos, Chancellor Robert J. Zimmer, Provost Ka Yee C. Lee and other University leaders also will deliver remarks. The event begins at 2 p.m., and a reception will follow. Register for the event here.
Housed in the Crown Family School, the Kiphart Center builds on the University’s global health efforts and aims to further integrate multidisciplinary resources and expand collaborations to promote community health and well-being in communities around the world.
Announced in 2021, the Kiphart Center was established with a $25 million gift from the Kiphart Family Foundation, founded by Susan and her late husband Richard (Dick). As longtime advocates for global health, Susan and Dick Kiphart have helped transform lives around the world. Led in partnership with UChicago’s Biological Sciences Division, the Kiphart Center will bring together expertise from around the University in support of collaborative efforts with partner communities to alleviate disease, improve infrastructure, and promote community health and well-being.