Urban Health Symposium

Urban Health: State of the Science

On Thursday, December 6th, the Boston University School of Public Health (SPH), the Initiative on Cities, and the Yale Institute for Global Health co-hosted an Urban Health Symposium that explored the role of public health in urban development and how to synthesize the science to formulate policy. Speakers from around the world participated in a series of six panels that discussed the implications that massive global urbanization has on public health. The issue was approached from a variety of perspectives, with some panels addressing solution-based approaches and others providing case studies from real cities. The IOC’s own Katharine Lusk moderated the final panel, entitled The Past, Present, and Future of Cities, which explored city development and health from a number of perspectives.

Several key themes emerged from the discourse throughout the day, including the imperative need for public health professionals to forge partnerships with policymakers and city leaders in order to formulate effective policy and enact change.

Read more about the symposium here.