Nursing through pandemic and beyond

A virtual Townhall with

Prof. Ann Kurth, PhD, CNM, MPH, FAAN
Dean of the Yale School of Nursing

Host: 

Prof. Susan Michaels-Strasser, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Commemorating the Bicentennial of Florence Nightingale’s birth in 1820, you are cordially invited to a special celebration of the year of the nurse and midwife with Professor Ann Kurth 87'PH as she shares her life-course perspective to health. 

A nationally renowned epidemiologist and nurse-midwife, Dr. Kurth will discuss a variety of topics such as reproductive health, end-of-life/nursing home/palliative-hospice care during COVID-19 pandemic, and the impacts of global warming especially on vulnerable populations and communities of color.

In the trenches we have our nurses fighting against the pandemic, and at their shining hour, there are none better to shine a light on how to strengthen and optimize the global health system that will inevitably face compounding planetary stresses.

Dr. Kurth will be interviewed by Dr. Michaels-Strasser. Time will be allocated for Q&A.

Cosponsored by:

Yale Club of Washington DC

Dr. Ann Kurth is a leader in higher education, and health – with a passion to improve the world. She is currently Dean and Lorimer Professor at the Yale University School of Nursing (YSN), and Professor, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, at Yale School of Public Health.

Dr. Kurth is a Fellow of the National Academy of Medicine and of the American Academy of Nursing. She served on the US Preventive Services Task Force which sets screening and prevention guidelines for the nation. She is past chair of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH), the 190+-university member academic global health association that supports “academic institutions and partners to improve the wellbeing of people and the planet through education, research, service, and advocacy.” Her work has been funded by National Institutes of Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UNAIDS, CDC, HRSA, and others, for studies conducted in the US and internationally.  Dr. Kurth has consulted for NIH, Gates, WHO, USAID, and others.

Dr. Kurth has published >200 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and scholarly monographs and presented at hundreds of scientific conferences and invited talks. She has received awards for her science and leadership including Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research Award and Sigma Theta Tau International Researcher Hall of Fame award. She chairs the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Board on Global Health, which includes a focus on issues of global import.

Dean Kurth’s trajectory includes education at Princeton (BA magna cum laude); research in sub-Saharan Africa; public health training at Columbia University and clinical education at Yale; and work in sectors both private (hospital systems, nonprofits, and leading universities) and public (health departments and academe). She earned her epidemiology PhD from University of Washington. Her skillsets have enabled her to work around the world with colleagues to improve the health of people and the planet. At UW she was involved in initiation of the Gates-funded Department of Global Health; at NYU she was inaugural Associate Dean for Research at the newly-created College of Global Public Health. At Yale she is Dean of YSN, the first academically-based school of nursing in the US; YSN recently committed to an Anti-Racism Plan. She co-chairs sustainability at Yale, the first university to do carbon charges. She has been a member of Yale’s COVID advisory task force; and believes that both science and attention to equity are crucial for response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other planetary health-related stresses.

Dr. Kurth understands the mandate to leverage science and the nursing profession itself to advocate for individuals, communities, and populations, to bend towards justice and equity. Dr. Kurth believes deeply in the power of universities – and nurses – to make a difference.

Dr. Susan D. Michaels-Strasser is a public health professional with 30 years of experience in nursing and public health. She is the senior director for human resources for health (HRH), providing leadership, guidance and direction for the development, implementation, and assessment of programs to develop human resources for health across ICAP's portfolio of programs. This work focuses on improving acute and chronic health care as well as management and mitigation of disease outbreaks. She is the Principal Investigator for CDC and HRSA-funded programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Zambia. She has served at senior management and training levels at various locations throughout Southern Africa. Her areas of expertise include pediatric care and support, nurse training, and use of point of care diagnostics. She is a pediatric nurse practitioner, a member of the Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society for Nurses, a member of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Dr. Strasser holds a MPH and MSc in nursing from Yale University and a PhD in public health from the University of Cape Town.