On the eve of the 111th anniversary of Tsinghua University, the Global Coalition of Deans of Schools of Public Health 2022 Meeting was hosted by Tsinghua Vanke School of Public Heatlh (VSPH) on 19 April. Over 400 scholars, faculty members and students in the field of public health attended the meeting online.

Wang Xiqin addresses the GCDSPH

Professor Wang Xiqin, President of Tsinghua University, representing the host institution, delivered welcome remarks during the opening session. President Wang said, human health can never be perceived separately, especially as deforestation, biodiversity loss, the growing impact of climate change and the rapidly growing economic inequalities between and within nations are posing imminent and evolving threats to global health and wellbeing. The world calls for collaborative and immediate actions to build a shared future of good health, equity and sustainability, which is in line with the ambition of the SDG 2030 Agenda. The future generations should be enabled with holistic thinking, integrated solutions across disciplines and rigorous evidence-based policies. To build a healthier world with balanced biodiversity and harmonious relations among human, animals and environment, we need to equip our next generation with holistic thinking, and the ability of working across disciplines. He conveyed the hope that the coalition can establish more tangible and diverse channels of exchange and cooperation, cultivate future leaders in public health, and foster closer partnerships across sectors.

Margaret Chan addresses the GCDSPH

Dr. Margaret Chan, the Co-Chair of GCDSPH, and the Founding Dean of VSPH and the Emeritus Director-General of WHO, emphasized in her opening remarks that the coalition is to work together as schools of public health in universities to build a better, healthier and sustainable world for the future, particularly for younger generations. “We hope to inspire our faculties and students in diverse geography to collaborate in education and training, research and innovation; and to foster long term close working relationships in sharing knowledge, experience and building capacity”, she said, “with the strong support of member deans, this coalition can become an indispensable force for good in public health in the years to come”.

Michelle Williams addresses the GCDSPH

"Countries that are rich, countries that are poor and countries that are in the middle-income range are all called on to act to promote prosperity while also protecting the health of humans and the planet," said Prof. Michelle Williams, the Co-Chair of GCDSPH and the Dean of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She reinforced that deans of schools of public health must find a way to work with each other, with their colleagues in international affairs, management, law and economics, to play a role to protect, promote, and preserve global health.

Other founding members, including Antoine Flahault, Director of Institute of Global Health in the University of Geneva; Landon Myer, Director and Head of School of Public Health and Family Medicine in the University of Cape Town; Joel Negin, Head of School of Public Health in University of Sydney; Pan An, Dean of School of Public Health in Huazhong University of Science of Technology; Eduardo César Lazcano Ponce, Director General of the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico; Claudia Bambs S., Head of Public Health Department of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; Sarawut Thepanondh, Dean of the Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University; and, Teo Yik Ying, Dean of Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, also shared their views on the development of GCDSPH.

Two parallel panels were held following the opening session. The ten founding member deans participated in the discussion, together with Professor Rebecca Katz, Director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security in Georgetown University, Professor Liang Wannian, Executive Vice Dean of Tsinghua Vanke School of Public Health, and Professor Xue Lan, Distinguished Professor and Dean of the Tsinghua Schwarzman College. The two panels featured thematic discussion on “Building a Resilient Health System during the Pandemic and beyond” and “Global Health Diplomacy” moderated by Dean Teo Yik Ying and Dean Michelle A. Williams respectively.

GCDSPH is jointly initiated by the Vanke School of Public Health of Tsinghua University and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It has ten founding member deans at present. Strengthening the relationship between Schools of Public Health, GCDSPH aims to cultivate future leaders in public health, foster close partnerships between member institutions and government and industry stakeholders, and inspire geographically diverse collaborations to advance research and innovation.

Editors:John Olbrich, Li Han