Jennifer Kates is Vice President and Director of Global Health & HIV Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. She oversees the Foundation's policy analysis and research focused on the US government's role in global health and on the global and domestic HIV epidemics. Widely regarded as an expert in the field, she regularly publishes and presents on global health issues and is particularly known for her work analyzing donor government investments in global health; assessing and mapping the US government's global health architecture, programs, and funding; and tracking key trends in the HIV epidemic, an area she has been working in for more than twenty years. Prior to joining the foundation in 1998, Dr. Kates was a Senior Associate with the Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm, where she focused on HIV policy, strategic planning/health systems analysis, and health care for vulnerable populations. Prior to that, she directed the Office of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns at Princeton University. Dr. Kates serves on numerous federal and private sector advisory committees on global health and HIV/AIDS issues. Currently, she serves on the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Congressionally-mandated evaluation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and on an IOM committee commissioned by the White House to identify core indicators for assessing the impact of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on HIV/AIDS care in the United States. Dr. Kates received her PhD in Health Policy from George Washington University, where she is also a lecturer. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts.
This course offers a practical introduction to major issues, policies and practices of public health, and examines the role of health in development. The course teaches critical public health skills such as epidemiology, burden of disease studies, rapid assessments and outbreak investigations, enabling students to understand the basic tools of public health and to analyze strengths and weaknesses in public health studies. Furthermore, this course examines major public health topics of concern to development, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, maternal and child health, water and sanitation, and emerging diseases. This training will enable development practitioners act on the ground and in development institutions to improve global health. This course is designed as both a stand-alone primer on public health for those working in development, and as a foundation course for more advanced study of global health issues.
This course gives students an in-depth, interdisciplinary examination of contemporary global health policy (GHP) issues and actors. The course provides a theoretical and applied examination of GHP using public health, economic, and international relations frameworks, and delves into current and historical GHP case studies. Topics covered by the course include: bioterrorism, pandemics, the global response to HIV/AIDS, foreign policy, diplomacy and global health treaties, global health aspects of international trade agreements such as the World Trade Organization’s trade-related aspects of intellectual property agreement (TRIPS), international development aid and other financing for health, and the governance of global health through public/private national, bilateral and multilateral institutions. Students will interact with the Professors and expert guest discussants with practical experience in these areas, deepening their understanding of the topics covered in class. Substantive class discussion and student participation is expected. Assignments include several short policy papers and a longer research paper on a GHP topic of the student’s choice.
