In this conversation with Maya Juman (Editor-in-Chief, The Scholar), Dr Rajiv Chowdhury explores the intersection of global health, climate change and mental health in the aftermath of the pandemic. See transcript below.
"Climate change is going to be the biggest problem in terms of global health... So for instance, how climate change is impacting water quality, food security, migration patterns, mental health, even emerging themes like antimicrobial resistance—how climate change will impact those areas, we don't really understand that very well."
Slideshow demonstrating Dr Chowdhury's work. Photo credit: Rajiv Chowdhury.
Dr Rajiv Chowdhury [2009] is the Chair of the Department of Global Health at the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work at Florida International University. Dr Chowdhury and colleagues aim to shape a department that opens doors to research and educational opportunities that address health disparities and improve health access for people worldwide (with a specific focus on Latin America).
Before Stempel College, Dr Chowdhury worked at the University of Cambridge and University of Exeter as an Associate Professor/Principal Researcher and Professor of Global Health, respectively. He currently serves as a country expert in the Global Burden of Disease initiative, a member of the World Health Organization’s Global Health Foresight Horizon Experts panel, and a member of the Expert Panel at the World Cancer Research Fund International. Dr Chowdhury’s research interests involve, first, to characterise individual, social, and structural factors of non-communicable diseases in low and middle-income settings; and second, how such insights on etiology and inequities could be leveraged to inform context-specific, solution-driven studies.
Dr Chowdhury’s ~125 scientific publications have received >85,000 citations thus far (his current publication H-index is 74) and have informed multiple global guidelines. Dr Chowdhury was elected a Fellow of the UK Royal Society of Medicine in 2022, a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology in 2021, a Fellow of the UK Royal Society for Public Health in 2011, and a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology in 2016. Academically, Dr Chowdhury has received a broad range of training and experience in global health epidemiology, global public health, and implementation science. He holds doctoral and master degrees in Public Health and Epidemiology, respectively, from the University of Cambridge, where he had the titles of Commonwealth scholar and Gates Cambridge scholar. He was the first Gates Cambridge scholar from Bangladesh, and in 2013 he received the Inaugural Bill Gates Senior Prize for his contributions to global health.
Access the podcast transcript here:
Music credit: Akerman ft. Coma Svensson | 'Stuck in the Middle' | Courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com