School of Public Health
About Public Health Diplomacy Lab
"The Public Health Diplomacy lab at the School of Public Health — the first of its kind in the country — aims to bring together different disciplines and stakeholders-governments, NGOs, academics, and civic society to improve collaboration and coordination among all actors to promote health and well-being through the understanding of broad stakeholder engagement, consensus building, and negotiations," says Dean Ashish Joshi.
The Public Health Diplomacy Lab at the University of Memphis School of Public Health serves as a dynamic platform uniting diverse stakeholders—from local community partners to global institutions—to address the world's most pressing public health challenges through collaboration, innovation, and diplomacy. The PHD Lab is a hub for knowledge generation, advocating for participatory, collaborative, and strategic approaches to improve health and well-being of all populations across various geographic settings.
The lab convenes a wide range of stakeholders to:
Quarterly Newsletter
PH Diplo - December 2025
Quarterly Newsletter
PH Diplo - September 2025
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Definition
Public health diplomacy is a multidisciplinary field that enables its practitioners to effectively communicate, facilitate, negotiate and build consensus using systems thinking, evidence based, community-informed approaches, based on equity-focused and human-centered values to improve health and well-being for all.
Guiding principles (9-points action plan)
Nine-point action steps from the Inaugural Public Health Diplomacy Summit organized by the University of Memphis School of Public Health in collaboration with ASPPH and GNAPH.
- Establish a Public Health Diplomacy Working Group globally. Member schools and programs from ASPPH and GNAPH will be invited to participate.
- Create Public Health Diplomacy capacity-building group globally that will work with key public health training and academic institutions across various regions to gather insights into the skills and competencies essential for public health students.
- Identify global and region-specific learning outcomes to prepare public health students to succeed in an interconnected and complex world through public health diplomacy.
- Advance public health diplomacy initiative by engaging decision-makers and stakeholders, (including foreign services, ministries of health, academic institutes, civil society members, policy makers and other international organizations like WHO and UN) in your own region to create more awareness about the field.
- Develop an online, interactive resource hub to disseminate Public Health Diplomacy Research, Innovation, Skills, and Experiential (PHD-RISE) learning opportunities globally.
- Organize events to help raise awareness about public health diplomacy in the field of public health.
- Analyze and share the Region’s experiences, best practices and achievements in public health diplomacy across various communication outlets to further develop the field.
- Expand regional and institutional partnerships in collaboration with the University of Memphis School of Public Health, ASPPH and GNAPH to advance public health diplomacy.
- Disseminate recommendations from participants to their respective institutions to move forward.
The Collaborators
Milestones
2026
- March: 2nd University of Memphis School of Public Health Diplomacy Summit on Regional and International Cooperation to Advance Public Health Diplomacy Among the Schools and Programs of Public Health
- April: 4th Interdisciplinary World Health Congress on Health Research and Education in the MENA Region Proposal “Preparing the public health workforce to be health primary speaker diplomats,” in Sousse, Tunisia
- May: Dean Joshi speaking at the World Green Energy Symposium Global™ in Athens, Greece
- June: World Congress of Psychotherapy United Nations Headquarters & City University of New York Graduate Center
- July: ASPHER Deans' & Directors' Retreat in Milan, Italy.
- September: 18th World Congress on Public Health in Cape Town, South Africa
- October: European Health Forum Gastein 2026, Health for a Stronger European Union
2025
- April: Published Findings of Public Health Diplomacy Summit
- May: UofM SPH Public Health Diplomacy Lab participates in World Health Alliance Summit held in New Delhi
- June: Dean Ashish Joshi presented at the Public Health Diplomacy: Global session at the ASPHER 2025 Deans’ and Directors’ Retreat in Berlin, Germany
- June: International Public Health Diplomacy Advisory Group established
- August: Public Health Diplomacy Lab at UofM joined the Health Diplomacy Institutional Network
- September: Quarterly Newsletter "PH Diplo" Published
- December:
- 2nd Quarterly Newsletter "PH Diplo" Published
- Published a paper on ‘Health diplomacy training, pedagogical approaches, and skills assessment: a scoping review
2024
- April: Launched Public Health Diplomacy Lab
- September: Inaugural Public Health Diplomacy Summit
- November: Established Public Health Diplomacy Steering Group
- December: Launched Public Health Diplomacy Website