Stories from across the globe: International COVID Response

LIVE VIRTUAL EVENT 11 – 12 pm ET

With Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health alumni currently located in more than 120 countries around the world, this session is meant to serve as a global perspective on some of the crucial work alumni are doing in the COVID-19 pandemic response. Alumni will share their personal stories on their work over the last six months and their perspective on what’s to come.

Watch the event

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Featured Panelists

Lucas de Toca, MPH ’13
A/g First Assistant Secretary, Australian Department of Health

Bhargavi Rao, MPH ’05
Clinical Team Lead (COVID/Malaria & Infection Diseases), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Mohammad AlSeaidan, SD ’16
Head of Environmental Health Department, Ministry of Health, Kuwait

Moderated by Jennifer Bishop SD ’09
Senior Advisor, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, United States Department for Health and Human Services
Alumni Weekend Committee Member

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Harvard Chan Frontiers: Conquering Epidemics, Confronting Climate Change
Learn more about the Frontiers here. 

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About the speakers

Dr. Lucas de Toca, MPH ’13
A/g First Assistant Secretary, COVID-19 Primary Care Response,
Australian Government Department of Health

Dr. Lucas de Toca leads the Primary Care Response to the COVID-19 pandemic at the Department of Health. He is responsible for the coordination of the primary care system, the implementation of 150 GP-led Respiratory Clinics and infection control training as well as, the Indigenous and remote aspects of the responses. Lucas is also co-chair (with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation) of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group on COVID-19. Prior to COVID-19 Lucas was the Assistant Secretary, responsible for the Health Plan, Child and Family Health as well as stakeholder engagement with the Indigenous Health Sector.

Lucas first joined the Department of Health as Principal Advisor, where he led the national taskforce to address the syphilis outbreak in northern and central Australia and other Indigenous Health initiatives. Before joining the Department, Lucas has worked as the Chief Health Officer at Miwatj Health, the regional Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Service for East Arnhem Land. He undertook medical school in Spain and Sydney, further training in Public Health at Harvard where he focused on health systems policy and leadership in health and human rights.

Lucas has been a member of the Northern Territory Clinical Senate, and a Board Member of the Northern Territory Aids and Hepatitis Council and has held several academic positions, currently appointed as an Honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

Dr. Bhargavi Rao, MPH ’05
Clinical Team Lead (COVID/Malaria & Infection Diseases), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Dr. Bhargavi Rao is currently the clinical focal point for COVID-19 response in Médecins Sans Frontières – Operational Centre Amsterdam (MSF-OCA), but she usually divides her time between roles as Clinical Lead and the Malaria and Infectious Diseases Specialist Advisor, based at the Manson Unit (London).

Bhargavi has worked in humanitarian infectious diseases programming and outbreaks across varied contexts including South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, India, Peru, South Africa and Venezuela. Bhargavi is a clinician with a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology from Imperial College in London. She received her MPH, with a focus on International Health, from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2005.

Moderator Jennifer Bishop, SD ’09
Senior Advisor, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, United States Department for Health and Human Services

Jennifer Anne Bishop currently serves as a Senior Advisor for the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), where she works on the Health Communication and Outreach team, and is the Designated Federal Officer for the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition and the National Clinical Care Commission. Prior to ODPHP, she served as the Director of the Division of Strategic Communications in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health. Dr. Bishop has over 20 years of experience working in health communication, health policy, and program evaluation.

Dr. Bishop is a graduate of Cornell University and has a masters of public health from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She earned her Doctorate of Science in health communication and social policy from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.