The Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness invites both Harvard and non-Harvard faculty and researchers to discuss topics related to the mission of the Center.

2020-2021

The 2020-2021 seminar theme is Health Equity and Positive Well-being. For upcoming seminars, see our Upcoming Events page. See below for recordings of past seminars.

• September 23, 2020 – Dr. Mika Kivimäki, Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London 
  • “Social Inequalities in Physical and Psychological Health: An Update on Current Knowledge”
• October 28, 2020 – Dr. Vikram Patel, Pershing Square Professor of Global Health, Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Adjunct professor & Joint Director, Centre for Chronic Conditions & Injuries, Public Health Foundation of India 
  • “Transforming Mental Health in the Covid Era”

Past Seminars

2019-2020

The 2019-2020 seminar series focused on resilience on the individual, city, and policy level. See below for recordings and more information:

• September 25, 2019 – Anita Chandra, DrPH, Vice President and Director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being 
  • “Building Community Resilience: Grassroots and Grasstops”
• October 23, 2019 – Willem Kuyken, PhD, Ritblat Professor of Mindfulness and Psychological Science, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford

  

  • “Preventing Depression Across the Lifespan with Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy”
• November 20, 2019 – George Bonanno, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Columbia University Teachers College
  • “Resilience to Loss and Trauma: What is it and why are we (usually, but not always) good at it?”
• January 22, 2020 – Karmel Choi, PhD, Clinical and Research Fellow, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Massachusetts General Hospital
  • “Psychological Resilience: What Can Genomic Approaches Teach Us?”
• February 26, 2020 – Alonzo Plough, PhD, Clinical Professor of Health Services, University of Washington School of Public Health, Vice President for Research and Evaluation and Chief Science Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • “Moving from Disparities to Equity to Thriving: Operationalizing a Culture of Health”

2018-2019

The 2018-2019 seminar series was focused on the two themes: (1) Translation and communication and (2) biology and well-being. See below for recordings and more information:

• September 26, 2018 – Steve Gortmaker, PhD, Professor of the Practice of Health Sociology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  • “Translating Research for Policy and Practice: the CHOICES Project and Implications for Happiness”
• October 17, 2018 – Gina McCarthy, MSc, Professor of the Practice of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  • “Translating Science to Policy: Lessons from Climate Change”
• October 25, 2018 – Richard J. Davidson, PhD, William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison

  

  • “Well-being Is a Skill”
  • View a recording of the seminar here
• November 28, 2018 – David Silbersweig, MD, Chairman, Department of Psychiatry and Co-Director for Institute for the Neurosciences, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School Dean for Academic Programs at Partners HealthCare, Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry, HMS
  • “Brain Systems for Resilience”
  • View a recording of the seminar here
• January 23, 2019 – Eric Loucks, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Associate Professor of Medicine, Brown University
  • “Population Health Impacts of Mindfulness: Opportunities, Evidence, and Pitfalls”
  • View a recording of the seminar here
• February 27, 2019 – Winnie Yip, PhD, Professor of the Practice of International Health Policy and Economics, Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  • “From Social Experiments to Policy Decisions: China’s Health Care Reform”
  • View a recording of the seminar here
• March 27, 2019 – Karen Emmons, PhD, Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  • “Building an Evidence Base that is Useful for Population Health”
  • View a recording of the seminar here
• April 24, 2019 – Suzanne Segerstrom, PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of Kentucky
  • “Well-being, Immunosenescence, and the Brain”
  • View a recording of the seminar here