Investigate the World | Recognize Perspectives
I attended the World Affairs Council program Public Health Response to Covid-19 in Zhejiang Province and WA on May 20, 2020. It dealt with the global issue of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is being dealt with in China and the US.
Expert speakers included:
- Dr. Xifeng Wu, is the Dean of the School of Public Health at Zhejiang University. Dr. Wu mainly focuses on molecular cancer epidemiology, health and medical big data, biomarkers, precision health, and artificial intelligence in cancer risk prediction. Dr. Wu earned her Ph.D. from The University of Texas School of Public Health in 1994.
- Dr. Jian An Wang, President of the 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine is the Executive Director of the Heart Center and the President of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine.
- Gabrielle Fitzgerald is the founder and CEO of Panorama, an action tank dedicated to achieving ambitious goals and solving the world’s toughest problems.
- Wenfeng Gong is a Fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he leads a portfolio of projects to monitor global vaccine demand and demystify the drivers of vaccination using a mixture of social science methods, epidemiology, and advanced analytics; he also co-leads a strategy to accelerate new vaccine introductions in China through financial innovation, advocacy, and implementation sciences.
- Jeff Hall is a Deputy Director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he oversees the Strategy, Planning, and Management for multiple teams within the Global Policy & Advocacy division. He served as Moderator.
This program helped me investigate an important current issue, COVID-19 pandemic, and better understand some of the science behind the pandemic spread and how different countries are addressing the challenge.
The speakers from China clearly represented their country’s policies and point of view, but, especially Dr. Xifeng Wu, who earned her Ph.D. from The University of Texas School of Public Health in 1994, was able to take the perspective of someone familiar with American values and priorities.
I really appreciated hearing directly from experts from China rather than having Chinese viewpoints interpreted by US media and elected officials. It struck me that they emphasized the importance of all countries of the world working together to find solutions.