School of Public Health
Public Health Diplomacy Summit 2026
Summit 2026
Public Health Diplomacy Summit on Regional and International Cooperation to Advance Public Health Diplomacy Among the Schools and Programs of Public Health
Agenda (PDF)Map Representing Participating Countries
This summit brought together over 36 participants from 20 countries: United States, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tanzania, Ukraine, United Kingdom
Overview
The University of Memphis School of Public Health kicked-off its 2nd Public Health Diplomacy Summit with the theme of Regional and International Cooperation
to Advance Public Health Diplomacy Among the Schools and Programs of Public Health
at its inaugural reception on Monday, March 23 at the FedEx Institute for Technology,
at The University of Memphis.
This Public Health Diplomacy invited diplomats, academics, civil society representatives,
and partner organizations from nearly 15 countries to participate in advancing public
health diplomacy. Through panel sessions, experts shared unique findings from each
of their organizations/countries. The first day comprised of six sessions and themes.
To conclude the second Public Health Diplomacy Summit, Dean Ashish Joshi (USA) and
fellow moderator Paul Barach (USA) invited panelists to the stage to discuss Exploring
Experiential Learning Opportunities for Students in Public Health Diplomacy. As they
look forward to bringing “Public Health Diplomacy in Practice” to their organizations
and countries they defined next steps for the group.
Outcomes
- Create Public Health Diplomacy capacity building group
- Develop an online, interactive resource hub to disseminate Public Health Diplomacy Research, Innovation, Skills, and Experiential learning
- Identify global and region-specific learning outcomes to prepare public health students to succeed in an interconnected and
- complex world through public health diplomacy
- Organize events to help raise awareness about public health diplomacy in the field of public health
- Develop a virtual community of Public Health Diplomats
Program Agenda
PDF Version of Program Agenda of Public Health Diplomacy Summit 2026
Contributors
- Dr. Laura Magaña, President and CEO, Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), USA
- Dr. Ashish Joshi, Dean and Distinguished Professor, School of Public Health at the University of Memphis, TN, USA
- Dr. Kun-Hsien Tsai, Associate Dean and Professor in the Department of Public Health at the College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
- Dr. Rodrigo Reis, Assistant Vice-Provost and Director, Office of Public Health, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA
- Dorothy Biberman, Senior Director of Global Engagement and Executive Initiatives at ASPPH, Arlington, VA, USA
- Dr. Henrique Barros, President of ASPHER, President of the Board of the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP)
- Robert Otok, Director of ASPHER, Brussels, Belgium
- Prof. Dr. Ramune Kalediene, Head of the Department of Health Management, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Lithuania
- Dr. Josep Figueras, Director Emeritus of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Ambassador for the European Health Union Fellowships program
- Ambassador Luis de Almeida Sampaio, President of the Strategic Council of Coimbra Health, Member of the Executive Committee of the Academic Alliance of the World Health Summit
- Dr. Antonio Sarria-Santamera, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences; Director of the PhD in Global Health at the School of Medicine of Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
- Professor Ashraf El-Metwally, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Dr. Kamiar Alaei, Chairman and Professor of Global Health Policy at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), External Evaluator at the University of Oxford
- Dr. Matthew Brown, Special Advisor, Global Health Policy and Data Institute, Adjunct Professor, Uniformed University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Dr. Ntuli A. Kapologwe, Director, East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC), Global Health Diplomat, Tanzania
- Dr. Olagoke Akintola, Director of SOPH, University of the Western Cape School of Public Health, South Africa
- Dr. Tiruneh Baye, Technical Officer for Public Health Workforce Development, Africa CDC, Ethiopia
- Prof. Margaret Kaseje, President, Professor, Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development, Kenya
- Dr. Woldekidan Amde, Senior Researcher, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
- Dr. Erica Kastrup, Cooperation Advisor, Researcher at the CRIS Center for International Relations in Health of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil
- Prof. Rajendra Surenthirakumaran, Professor in Community Medicine and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka
- Prof. Wah Yun Low, Honorary Professor of Psychology at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia
- Dr. Shawna Novak, Executive Director
- Professor Paul Barach, Thomas Jefferson University, UNC and Imperial College London, Chair, Accreditation Board
- William Yotive, Model UN Coordinator for the World Federation of United Nations Associations, USA
- Dr. John Middleton, President of GNAPH, United Kingdom