Public Seminars

All seminars take place at 4:30 pm at the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University, unless otherwise noted. Parking is available. These events are free.

For more information, contact: Joelle Rogers, 919-681-7935.

Geoff Garnett, Imperial College

December 3, 2009 - 3:30 – 5 PM - NOTE TIME CHANGE

Location: John Hope Franklin Center, Room 240

Title: "Maximizing the Effectiveness and Efficiency of HIV and STI Interventions"

Geoff Garnett is Professor of Microparasite Epidemiology at Imperial College London, where he is Theme Leader for Public and International Health and Director of a Masters Course in Epidemiology. His main area of research is the epidemiology and control of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Since 1990 Dr. Garnett has worked on the broad area of HIV and STI epidemiology, with projects on the demographic impact of AIDS; modelling sexual partner networks; and the epidemiology of HIV, gonorrhoea, syphilis, trichomoniasis, herpes-simplex virus (HSV) and human papillomavirus (HPV). Recent work has focused on the potential impact of HSV and HPV vaccines and the epidemiological consequences of antiretroviral treatments. Dr. Garnett has been an investigator on community randomised trials of HIV interventions in Zimbabwe and Peru, and has been involved in the design and analysis of a number of sexual behaviour surveys in developed and developing countries. As Chair of the UNAIDS Reference Group on Estimates, Models and Projections, he has played a part in developing the methods used in HIV surveillance globally.

Jeffrey Sonis, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Social Medicine and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

January 20, 2010 - 4:30 – 6 PM

Jeffrey Sonis's research has focused on epidemiologic research methods and the psychosocial effects of human rights violations. His work has been supported by NIMH, the Office of Naval Research, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Andrus Family Fund, and has included work with Bosnian refugees in Detroit, Vietnam-era prisoners of war, and the South African and the Greensboro, North Carolina Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. He is the course director for the required course in Clinical Epidemiology for medical students at UNC-CH.

Harley Feldbaum, Director Global Health and Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

February 2, 2009 - 4:30 - 6 PM

Location: TBD

Harley Feldbaum is the Director of the Global Health and Foreign Policy Initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is an expert on the national security and foreign policy implications of global health issues. He has worked on global health issues for over 10 years, and has consulted for CSIS and the Nuffield Trust on the linkages between health and security. Harley received a degree in Biology with Honors from Wesleyan University, a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins, and a Ph.D. at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for his research on HIV/AIDS and national security. His current research focuses on the increasing interaction between the global health, foreign policy and security communities, on the treatment of the HIV/AIDS pandemic as a security issue, and on health diplomacy.

Kirk R. Smith, PhD, MPH, Director, Global Health and Environment Program, Professor, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley

February 17, 2010 - 4:30 – 6 PM

Kirk R. Smith is Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and holds the Maxwell Endowed Chair in Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also founder and coordinator of the campus-wide Masters Program in Health, Environment, and Development. Previously, he was founder and head of the Energy Program of the East-West Center in Honolulu, where he still holds appointment as Adjunct Senior Fellow in Environment and Health after moving to Berkeley in 1995. He is also a Visiting Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. His research work focuses on environmental and health issues in developing countries, particularly those related to health-damaging and climate-changing air pollution from energy production and use, and includes ongoing field measurements and health-effects projects in India, Nepal, and Guatemala, as well as in China where he has worked since 1981. He serves on a number of national and international scientific advisory and editorial boards, including those for the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines and for the Global Energy Assessment, and has published over 230 scientific articles and 7 books. He holds bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from UC Berkeley and, in 1997, was elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Youfa Wang, MD, MS, PhD, Associate Professor of International Health and Epidemiology, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

March 17, 2010 - Time: TBD

Dr. Wang is presently an Associate Professor at the Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Department of Epidemiology (joint appointment), Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. Earlier, he was an Assistant Professor in the same department. Earlier still, he was an Assistant Professor, Department of Human Nutrition and an Adjunct Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Illinois in Chicago, IL. Even earlier, Dr. Wang was a Visiting Scholar at the School of Public Health at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. Earlier still, he was an Assistant Professor (joint appointment) in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL Dr. Wang is and was a member of several professional organizations including: the American Society for Nutritional Sciences; Society for International Nutrition Research; the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, the International Association for the Study of Obesity, the American Statistical Association, the American Public Health Association, the American Diabetes Association; Society for Epidemiologic Research; and the Vice Secretary General, The Society of Chinese American Professors and Scientists. He is the recipient of several awards and honors including: The Dannon Institute's Nutrition Leadership Institute; the American Society for Nutritional Sciences (ASNS) Travel Award; the University of Illinois General Clinical Research Center (GCRC); the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health; the Chunhui Award, Chinese Ministry of Education; and the Carolina Population Center Predoctoral Traineeship. Dr. Wang has authored and co-authored numerous articles, periodicals and manuals in nutrition

Gina Dallabetta, Senior Program Officer Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

April 14, 2010 - 4:30 - 6 PM

Location: John Hope Franklin Center, Room 240

Dr. Gina Dallabetta is Senior Program Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gina joined the Foundations's Avahan-India AIDS Initiative in January 2005. She has fifteen years of experience in HIV programming. Previously, Gina was Director of the Prevention Department of the HIV/AIDS Institute of Family Health International (FHI). The Department was responsible for sexually transmitted infection, behavior change communication, monitoring and evaluation, and related operations research in over 40 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern European and the Middle East. Dr. Dallabetta co-edited Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases: A Handbook for the Design and Management of Programs, the first book ever produced for managers of STI programs in developing countries, now considered a standard supplementary text for graduate programs in international health.