Global Health Politics Workshop (GHPW)

A pandemic that has claimed over six million lives has burned the importance of global health into our collective imagination forever. COVID-19 has brought politics to the fore, laid bare global and regional inequalities, and underscored the importance of transnational cooperation. Yet, the coronavirus pandemic is but one of many urgent global health problems. The challenges posed by non-communicable disease, anti-microbial resistance, HIV/AIDS, the drive for universal health coverage, and global health governance are others. How can the study of the politics of global health problems contribute to advancing the human condition and ensuring a better future?

Housed at and sponsored by the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, and convened by Pardee Center Faculty Research Fellow Prof. Joseph Harris, the monthly Global Health Politics Workshop (GHPW) series brings together leading social scientists from the disciplines of anthropology, political science, and sociology, along with practitioners in Boston and around the world, to advance understanding of health phenomena in a globally interconnected world. This workshop operates in hybrid format to accommodate participation in person and via Zoom, and seeks to:

  • Create a forum for the exchange of ideas across disciplines
  • Showcase cutting edge research in the social sciences on the politics of global health
  • Offer a space for graduate student training and professionalization
  • Deepen institutionalization of global health politics research within disciplinary social sciences
  • Bridge scholarly and practitioner worlds

GHPW meets once a month. The first 15 minutes (4:00 to 4:15 pm) will be devoted to lunch, networking, and casual conversation (with Zoom participants having an opportunity to connect with other scholars from around the world conducting GHP research in Breakout Rooms). Forty-minute talks will begin at 4:15 pm, with the remaining 35 minutes devoted to Q&A and discussion with the audience. Presenters will also be available to meet with participants in person and by Zoom on the day of the talk.

Thursday, February 6, 2025 | 2:00-3:30 pm | Register to Attend

“The Politics of Primary Health Care”
Kevin Croke, Assistant Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Anuska Kalita, Health Systems Specialist, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health


Thursday, February 27, 2025 | 4:00-5:30 pm | Register to Attend

“Follow the Image: Seeing the Entanglement of Health and Security”
Katharina Krause, Research Associate, International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities, University of Tübingen, Germany


Thursday, March 20, 2025 | 4:00-5:30 pm | Register to Attend

“Unnecessary Hysterectomy in India: Puzzling Patterns Around Women’s Bodies and Health Systems”
Sapna Desai, Senior Fellow, Population Council Institute


Thursday, April 10, 2025 | 4:00-5:30 pm | Register to Attend

“Antiblackness and Global Health: A Response to Ebola in the Colonial Wake ”
Lioba Hirsch, Wellcome Research Fellow and Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh


Thursday, May 1, 2025 | 4:00-5:30 pm | Register to Attend

“Is it Possible to Shift Power in Global Health?”
Madhukar Pai, Professor and Inaugural Chair, Department of Global & Public Health, School of Population and Global Health, McGill University