**Due to inclement weather, this event will now be fully virtual. Join us on Zoom by registering for the webinar at this link. 

ABOUT THE EVENT

Over the last 50 years, economic development has lifted millions of people from poverty, increased child survival and life expectancy, and improved human health and well-being. Concurrently, the market economy has commercialized a wide range of products whose unhealthy use is exacting substantial human and financial costs.

Each year, tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods, sugar, social media, and other consumer products are contributing to nearly 1 million annual U.S. deaths and 23 million worldwide deaths. Reducing human and financial costs has proven extremely challenging and, even when successful, takes decades to achieve.

In a 2024 PLOS Global Public Health article, Duke and UNC researchers coined the term, market-driven epidemics (MDEs) to describe the widespread unhealthy use of consumer products whose harm has been purposefully hidden, denied, or minimized by their producers and for which companies have actively resisted effective mitigation. 

Using successful and unsuccessful examples from tobacco, sugar, prescription opioids, firearms, and commercial milk formula MDEs, this Think Global will address the questions:  What are “market-driven epidemics”? Why do they matter?  What are the commercial, neuro-psychological, behavioral, and social forces that drive MDEs?  What roles have and can academics, policy-makers, civil society organizations, consumers, and companies play in combatting MDEs? 

SPEAKERS

Jonathan D. Quick, MD, MPH, (moderator) is adjunct Professor of Global Health at DGHI, where he teaches global health policy, serves on foundation grant advisory boards, and mentors students. Dr. Quick’s current research and writing focuses on market-driven epidemics, from tobacco to opioids to social media. He is also Affiliated Faculty in Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

Anna Lembke, MD, is currently Professor and Medical Director of Addiction Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine. In 2016, she published "Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop", highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018). Dr. Lembke appeared in the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives. Her book "Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence" (2021), a New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller translated into 30 languages, explores compulsive overconsumption through addiction neuroscience and recovery wisdom.

Jonathan Lowy, JD, has been bringing, litigating, and winning trailblazing, impactful lawsuits,  and advocating for gun violence prevention for 25 years. He has litigated in trial and appellate courts in over 40 states, helped win over $100 million in verdicts and settlements for victims of gun violence, created groundbreaking precedent that holds gun companies accountable for their contribution to gun violence, reformed dangerous gun industry practices, and shut down reckless gun dealers.

Aunchalee Palmquist, PhD, MA, IBCLC, is a Thai-American medical anthropologist, with over 20 years of experience applying anthropological theory and methods to advance health equity. Her research related to breastfeeding bridges critical biocultural anthropology and global public health. Dr. Palmquist has previously served on the WHO/UNICEF Global Breastfeeding Collective, the global Emergency Nutrition Network IFE Core Group, and the United States Breastfeeding Committee as Co-Steward of the Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Constellation.  

Eszter Rimanyi, BA, is a chronic disease epidemiologist working with Dr. Jonathan D. Quick at the Duke Global Health Institute. Her research interest centers around Market-Driven Epidemics, including tobacco, sugar, opioids, and breastmilk substitute/infant formula. She is currently working on applying the market-driven epidemics approach to new epidemics, such as social media and firearms. Rimanyi has authored scientific papers in journals such as PloS Global Public Health and MDPI and journalistic pieces in TIME and The Conversation. 


This is a hybrid event with both in-person and remote attendance options. Attendance in person is encouraged. Lunch will be available.