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September 29, 2021
New York City Mayor, de Blasio, announces Columbia University will operate and oversee Pandemic Response Institute.
• Pandemic Response Institute (PRI) allocated $20 Million in City Funding, tasked with Preparing Communities Ahead of the Next Pandemic.
NEW YORK, September 29, 2021 — Today, Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) announced Pandemic Response Institute (PRI). Columbia University would launch and operate it. The City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) will be a crucial partner.
A broad consortium of non-profit public health entities, community-based organizations, industries, and businesses will work with the Institute to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health emergencies.
The PRI (Pandemic Response Institute) will get up to $20 million in City capital funding for eligible costs. It would prepare New York City for future health emergencies and epidemics more effectively and equitably. In addition, it would position the city as a global leader to serve as a model for public health response.
“The Pandemic Response Institute, operated by Columbia University with key partner CUNY SPH, will play a critical role in preparing for future pandemics and promoting equity in public health,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Born out of New York’s quick action during the early days of the pandemic, this institute will put our hardest learned lessons to work so that when the next public health crisis emerges, New York City will not only be prepared; we will be ready to lead these global fights.”
“The Pandemic Response Institute will serve as our City’s anchor as we invest and ensure we have the tools we need to confront — and prevent — future public health emergencies,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Vicki Been. “We are grateful to our partners at Columbia and CUNY SPH for putting forth an ambitious and comprehensive vision for such an urgent need for New York City.”
“The experience of confronting COVID-19 and recent natural disasters has proven that we must work together to prepare and respond to public health emergencies,” said First Deputy Health Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer Dr. Torian Easterling. “These investments will prepare us to fight future health crises and ensure a just recovery and the opportunity to establish New York City as the public health capital of the world.”
“One of the lessons we’ve learned over the last 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of a robust public health emergency response system,” said Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani. “The partnership with Columbia University and the other institutions will make the Pandemic Response Institute a hub of innovation, information, and planning to prepare us for the next health crisis better. A dedicated institute to analyze and plan for future crises, along with resources and collaboration with City agencies, will help minimize the impact of future disasters and strengthen our public health responses.”
“Our commitment to building a recovery for all of us includes ensuring a robust public health response to any future emergency,” said the City’s Senior Advisor for Recovery, Lorraine Grillo. “We look forward to working with Columbia and CUNY to bolster our city’s infrastructure, so we are better prepared to swiftly and equitably address any threat to the well-being of our communities.”
“Columbia University with key partner CUNY SPH demonstrated to us a high level of expertise that was unmatched,” said NYCEDC President and CEO Rachel Loeb. “NYCEDC has every confidence these esteemed institutions and their partners will put New York City and all New Yorkers first. Keeping people safe and our economy open means we need an unprecedented public health response that is forward-looking and dedicated to addressing health disparities. NYCEDC is proud to help establish a Pandemic Response Institute that will be innovative and critical to our public health infrastructure.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has opened our eyes to the critical need for strong and vibrant multi-sector partnerships to protect New Yorkers from emergent health threats effectively,” said Wafaa El-Sadr. El-Sadr is Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and Director of ICAP and Columbia World Projects. He is leading the PRI. “The Pandemic Response Institute will create an unprecedented nexus for engagement, expertise, and resources from across our city,” he added.
“We are enormously excited to partner with Columbia University in this vital effort,” said Ayman El-Mohandes, Dean of CUNY SPH. “Our school’s primary commitment to health equity and social justice, coupled with existing strengths in health communication, systems modeling, and community outreach, will help to shape and support this initiative to advance a new vision for the health of all New Yorkers.”
NYCEDC (New York City Economic Development Corporation), DOHMH (The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene), and New York City Emergency Management reviewed and selected Columbia to launch this Institute with a critical partnership with CUNY SPH and other collaborators, following a Request for Proposals (RFP) in April. Through its Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University put forth an ambitious and compelling vision for the PRI.
The PRI will specifically focus on:
- Building or strengthening technologies and systems to support real-time data collection and sharing.
- Driving cutting-edge research on public health innovation and creating capacity to scale technological solutions in future public health emergencies rapidly.
- Piloting community-based partnership models and workforce training programs to improve emergency preparedness and advance health outcomes across all communities.
Dr. Claire Pomeroy, President and CEO of the Lasker Foundation, remarked, “Thanks to the Pandemic Response Institute, we are better positioned to build a healthier, more resilient, and more just New York City — and serve as a model for the world.”
Source: The City of New York, Office of the Mayor
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 10:42 PM | View the original post
World Leaders, CEOs, & Global Celebrities Gather at Harvard University for the HPAIR Summit
Government ministers from Asia, Europe, and the U.S., Fortune 500 business CEOs, philanthropic leaders, and decorated celebrities delivered remarks at the annual HPAIR conference.
The meeting was held virtually. It discussed progress across technological frontiers, addressing social issues, improving global governance, and fostering philanthropy.
Dubbed “The Davos of Harvard” by Business Insider, 75 Harvard students organized the HPAIR conference to democratize information by connecting today’s leaders with the future leaders of tomorrow. The event welcomed over 9,000 delegates worldwide. Co-Presidents Zeel Patel and Eric Lin led the meeting.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 28, 2021 — The Harvard College Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) that operates the largest student-run conference in the USA and Asia has concluded its flagship HPAIR 2021 Conference. It was the most extensive gathering in its 30-year history. The summit’s theme was Reinventing with Resilience, where attendees shared visions on improving the state of the world following COVID-19 by engaging in disruptive innovation across social, political, academic, and business dimensions.
Government ministers, Fortune 500 business CEOs, and decorated celebrities listed below gathered at Harvard University.
• Notable keynote speakers for the event included:
- Bob Sternfels, CEO of McKinsey & Company
- Manny Maceda, CEO of Bain & Company
- Rich Lesser, CEO of Boston Consulting Group
- Mark Suzman, CEO of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Jimmy Wales, Co-Founder of Wikipedia
- Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative, Cabinet Member of the United States under President Biden’s Administration
- Adam D’Angelo, CEO & Co-Founder of Quora, Former CTO of Facebook
- HE Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Finance for Indonesia, Former Managing Director & CFO of the World Bank
- HE Minister Nadiem Makarim, Minister of Education & Culture for Indonesia, former Co-Founder of GoJek
- N.R. Narayana Murthy, Founder and former CEO of Infosys, Board Member of the U.N. Foundation, Ford Foundation, and former Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum
- Andreas Weigend, former Chief Scientist of Amazon.com, Advisor to Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel
- Ajay Piramal, Chairman of the Piramal Group
- Muhammad Yunus, winner of Nobel Peace Prize 2006 & the Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Aparna Bawa, COO of Zoom
- Justin Kan, Co-Founder of Twitch, Partner at Y Combinator
- Anne Chow, CEO of AT&T (Business)
- Yuriko Koike, Governor of Tokyo, Former Minister of Defence for Japan
- Lord Ed Vaizey, Member of the House of Lords for the UK.
- Professor Peter Singer, Renowned Ethical Philosopher at Princeton University, Founder of The Life You Can Save
- Jessica Meir, NASA Astronaut
- Steve Aoki, Celebrity American D.J. & Record Producer
- Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman, and Founder of Banyan Tree Hotels
- Sheila Patel, CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management
- Veronica Chou, Founder and CEO of Everybody & Everyone
- Idris Jala, former CEO of Malaysia Airlines
“Our core focus has always been to gather people who are pioneers in their respective fields and engage them in Socratic dialogue with one another on issues of global importance. And then to capture those ideas generated and share them worldwide,” remarked Zeel Patel, Co-President of HPAIR. “It creates a mesocosm of information transfer that only happens when two leaders interact, such as the CEO of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Co-Founder of Wikipedia.”
Lesly Goh, former CTO of The World Bank Group and member of HPAIR’s Board of Advisors, applauded the global team on their achievements: “it was quite a pleasure to support Zeel, Eric, and their team of 75 Harvard students as they orchestrated the conference from their Dubai, Boston, and Taipei offices. While the virtual format brought on tremendous challenges, it also provided incredible opportunities to maximize HPAIR’s impact and accelerate our mission of democratizing insights to our delegates, connecting young future leaders with leaders globally.”
The Harvard College Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) is a 30-year-old non-profit organization founded to create a forum of exchange for young professionals and current world leaders to discuss and learn about the most important technological, political, and economic issues facing the globe. The mission is to connect today’s top leaders with the future leaders of tomorrow in a dynamic forum of engagement.
Since 1991, HPAIR has organized 50 conferences in 19 different host countries, touching the lives of more than 40,000 students and young professionals. In addition, HPAIR hosts two student-led conferences a year, one on Harvard’s campus and one in Asia-Pacific.
Source: Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR)
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 9:19 AM | View the original post
National Press Club awards Shradha Dinesh the 2021 Richard G. Zimmerman Award for Studies in Journalism
WASHINGTON, September 28, 2021 /— The National Press Club, the world’s leading professional organization for journalists, has chosen  Shradha Dinesh of Ashburn, Va., as the winner of its 2021 Richard G. Zimmerman Award. The award for graduating high school seniors is a one-time scholarship.
Shradha won over the judges with her role in bringing Rock Ridge High School’s moribund newspaper back to life, as well as with her writing skills.
Her English teacher Katy Greiner wrote that during Shradha’s freshman year, “I mentioned my attempts to ‘re-launch the paper” to the class, “hoping she would join in.” The result was “The Blaze,” now in its third year and with 45 staff members under Shradha’s leadership.
“I can say without hesitation that she is the driving force,” wrote Shradha’s teacher, who also says Shradha is a mentor, earns her peers’ respect with her guidance and “raw talent,” and her “dedication to thanking her staff with handwritten notes.”
In her application essay, Shradha wrote that “as an Indian American, it is glaringly evident that newsrooms lack coverage of South Asian communities except for the occasional election-season op-ed or racist caricatures in entertainment.” She said that students desire diversity in literature.
Shradha is attending the College of William & Mary in Virginia and hopes to become a journalist.
Shradha learned copyediting and photography, and as editor in chief of The Blaze, undertook more ambitious projects like podcasts. She also filed her first Freedom of Information Act request. But, as her English teacher notes, if the staff needed a photo of a football game or a last-minute change to the design, “Shradha was there.”
“Not only did Shradha help revive her high school newspaper, but she has also ensured that it will thrive,” said Lisa Matthews, National Press Club president. “Her work to grow a dedicated team and guide others as a mentor shows us the young leadership journalists can demonstrate as they work toward a common goal. This scholarship isn’t just an award — it’s an investment in a journalist who will have a great impact on others through her work.”
The runner-up for this scholarship was Naomi Jordan of Pinetop, Ariz.
The Richard G. Zimmerman Scholarship gets its name from a long-time National Press Club member who endowed a scholarship to support high school seniors who wish to pursue a career in journalism.
Shradha Dinesh is one of the dozens of award winners who will be honored at the National Press Club’s Annual Journalism Awards Dinner, to be held virtually from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on December 8, 2021. The National Press Club’s Journalism Awards celebrate the best in American broadcast and print journalism.
Source: The National Press Club, Washington, DC
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 3:27 AM | View the original post
