November 1, 2023 — Greater than 90 present and former scholarship holders Takemi Program in Worldwide Well being converged on the Harvard TH Chan College of Public Well being in October for a two-day celebration marking this system’s fortieth anniversary.th birthday. The occasion included a symposium with discussions centered on digital well being alternatives and challengesand networking alternatives for this worldwide neighborhood of well being coverage specialists.
The Takemi Program was began in 1983 by former Harvard Chan College dean Howard Hiatt and the late Taro Takemi, who was president of the Japanese Medical Affiliation on the time. They conceived this system as a method to convey collectively world specialists from various fields, together with drugs, public well being, economics, regulation and politics, to search out efficient and equitable options to growth and useful resource distribution well being care. Since then, 323 Takemi Fellows from 61 international locations have participated in this system.
Fellows audit programs at Harvard, conduct their very own analysis, attend weekly seminars, and study from one another, with nice flexibility. This is a chance for mid-career professionals to step away from their day by day obligations to discover massive questions and change-generating work. Many have gone on to serve in management positions in their very own international locations, akin to well being ministers, faculty deans, and group founders.
“The Takemi program is acknowledged at and across the College for its skill to draw future leaders in public well being and for its contributions to world well being,” mentioned the interim dean. Jeanne Kim mentioned on the celebration’s opening reception, held October 20 on the Harvard College Membership. “Certainly, as of late, each world well being assembly brings collectively former Takemi fellows, on matters starting from well being financing reform to the battle in opposition to malaria to progressive methods for advancing common well being protection.
Digital well being convention
On the symposium the following day, program government director Takemi Jesse Bosse—a fellow in 2010-2011—mirrored on the vital function the fellowship performed in his personal profession. “This system makes us higher variations of ourselves,” he mentioned.
After taking part in this system, fellows be part of a worldwide cadre of specialists who proceed to collaborate and help one another.
“The great networks amongst fellows throughout nationwide borders could be crucial driving pressure in making a extra peaceable, steady and wholesome world, with nobody left behind,” mentioned Keizo Takemi, Taro’s son and fellow in 2007-2009. remarks delivered remotely throughout the convention. Takemi was lately appointed as Japan’s Minister of Well being, Labor and Welfare.
Discussions on the symposium included a keynote handle from África Periáñez, co-founder and CEO of Causal Foundry, an organization that makes use of machine studying to personalize drugs, healthcare supply and affected person help, in notably in low- and middle-income international locations. Takemi Fellows offered analysis on a variety of matters, together with the usage of cellular know-how to fight gender-based violence in rural Nigeria and the function of digital well being in Taiwan’s nationwide insurance coverage system. Prakash Gupta, a member of this system’s first cohort (1984-1985), returned to average a panel. Gupta, a number one power illness epidemiologist, is the founding director of the Healis-Sekhasaria Institute of Public Well being in Mumbai, India.
Yutaka Aso, a member of the Takemi household who runs a significant hospital in Japan, mentioned he would use classes discovered on the symposium. “The digital well being tsunami is coming,” he mentioned, highlighting each the alternatives and potential dangers on this space.
The advantages of being collectively
In his concluding remarks, Michael R. Reich, longtime director of this system and Taro Takemi Distinguished Professor of Worldwide Well being Coverage, mentioned the assembly was each an in-depth exploration of analysis and a chance for non-digital communications. “It reminds us, after going by way of the pandemic, that in-person conferences actually do make a distinction, due to the human contact and the surprising issues that occur if you discuss to different individuals – and the educational alternatives. »
Reich closed the celebration by passing the torch to his successor Aya Goto, professor of well being info and epidemiology at Fukushima Medical College in Japan and Takemi Fellow in 2012-2013. Goto will be part of the Harvard Chan College because the Takemi Professor of Worldwide Neighborhood Well being Follow and director of this system on January 1.
Pictures: Susan Symonds; Reich and Goto courtesy of Michael Reich
