Johns Hopkins SAIS to host “How the Public Health Crisis Undercuts Beijing’s Global Ambitions,” featuring global health expert Yanzhong Huang on December 11

Johns Hopkins SAIS Dean Eliot A. Cohen will host “How the Public Health Crisis Undercuts Beijing’s Global Ambitions,” a virtual discussion featuring Yanzhong Huang, Senior Fellow of Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, as part of the Dean’s Speaker Series on December 11. Huang, a 1993 Hopkins-Nanjing Center alumnus, has written extensively on China and global health and advises governmental and non-governmental organizations and other entities on these issues.

 

Huang and Cohen’s discussion will examine the impact of China’s public health crises, including COVID-19, on its global ambitions. This conversation, moderated by Andrew Mertha, Vice Dean and Director of China Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS, will also focus on key takeaways from Huang’s latest new book, Toxic Politics: China’s Environmental Health Crisis and its Challenge to the Chinese State.

Eliot A. Cohen 

Dean, Johns Hopkins SAIS

 

Yanzhong Huang 

Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations

Professor and Director of Global Health Studies, Seton Hall University School of Diplomacy and International Relations

Andrew Mertha

Vice Dean and Director of China Studies, Johns Hopkins SAIS

9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. EST

Friday, December 11, 2020

This virtual event is open to the public and media, with registration.

Miji Bell

Director of Communications and Media Relations

Johns Hopkins SAIS

+1 (202) 587-3205

[email protected] 

 

Jason Lucas 

Communications Manager

Johns Hopkins SAIS

+1 (202) 663-5620

Yanzhong Huang is a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he directs the Global Health Governance roundtable series. He is also a Professor and Director of Global Health Studies at the Seton Hall University School of Diplomacy and International Relations, where he developed the first academic concentration among U.S. professional international affairs schools that explicitly addresses the security and foreign policy aspects of health issues.

 

Huang has written extensively on China and global health. His titles include: Governing Health in Contemporary China and Toxic Politics: China’s Environmental Health Crisis and its Challenge to the Chinese State. He has published numerous reports, journal articles, and book chapters, including articles in Survival, Foreign Affairs, Public Health,  Bioterrorism and Biosecurity, and the China Leadership Monitor, as well as opinion pieces in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, and South China Morning Post. In 2006, he co-authored the first scholarly article that systematically examined China’s soft power. He is also the founding Editor of Global Health Governance: The Scholarly Journal for the New Health Security Paradigm. 

 

Huang has testified before U.S. congressional committees many times and is regularly consulted by major media outlets, the private sector, and governmental and non-governmental organizations on global health issues and China. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and an Institute of Global Health board member. In 2012, InsideJersey listed him as one of the “20 Brainiest People in New Jersey.” He was previously a Research Associate at the National Asia Research Program, a Public Intellectuals Fellow at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, an Associate Fellow at the Asia Society, a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore, and a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

 

Andrew Mertha is the Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and International Research Cooperation, George and Sadie Hyman Professor of China Studies, and Director of the China Studies Program at Johns Hopkins SAIS. He specializes in Chinese bureaucratic politics, political institutions, and the domestic and foreign policy process. More recently, Mertha expanded his research interests to include Cambodia.

 

Mertha has written three books, The Politics of Piracy: Intellectual Property in Contemporary China, China’s Water Warriors: Citizen Action and Policy Change, and Brothers in Arms: Chinese Aid to the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979. His articles have appeared in The China Quarterly, Comparative Politics, International Organization, Issues & Studies, CrossCurrents, and Orbis. Mertha’s comments have appeared in the Associated Press, BusinessWeek, The Cambodia Daily, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He has also provided commentary on National Public Radio, BBC, and Voice of America. Mertha currently serves on the editorial committees for the Journal of Comparative Politics, The China Quarterly, and Asian Survey.

 

Mertha previously provided public testimony for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, briefed the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and accompanied a U.S. congressional staff delegation to Beijing, Xinjiang, and Shanghai to discuss issues of terrorism and narcotics trafficking. Additionally, he is Vice President of the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS), a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and an alumnus of the NCUSCR Public Intellectuals Program, 2008-2010.

The Dean’s Speaker Series is the highest profile speaker series at Johns Hopkins SAIS. The series will host a diverse array of prominent international affairs practitioners and business leaders for insightful perspectives and thought-provoking discussions on international relations, leadership and other relevant topics that impact our focus areas. This fall will feature distinguished experts around themes such as American Foreign Policy and the 2020 Election, International Order after Coronavirus, Targets of Opportunity in the Global Arena, and Race Relations, Civic Engagement and Global Social Movements. All events require pre-registration and are free and open to the public.

A division of Johns Hopkins University, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a global institution that offers students an international perspective on today's critical issues. For more than 75 years, Johns Hopkins SAIS has produced great leaders, thinkers, and practitioners of international relations. Public leaders and private sector executives alike seek the counsel of the faculty, whose ideas and research inform and shape policy. Johns Hopkins SAIS offers a global perspective across three campus locations: Bologna, Italy; Nanjing, China; and Washington, D.C. The school's interdisciplinary curriculum is strongly rooted in the study of international economics, international relations, and regional studies, preparing students to address multifaceted challenges in the world today. 

 

For more information, visit sais.jhu.edu or on Twitter @SAISHopkins

 

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