Public Health in Polarized Times

What will it take to build a public health system in the United States that is effective, equitable, and trusted by a deeply divided public?  

Debates about personal liberties in the context of public health have become highly polarized. Amid this turbulence, one fact remains clear: the health and wellbeing of the American public depend on a shared commitment to human dignity and equity.   

Join us for a candid, forward-looking discussion between Admiral Rachel Levine and Dr. Robert Redfield, moderated by Carr-Ryan Center Director Mathias Risse. Drawing on years of leadership at the highest levels of federal public health, Drs. Levine and Redfield will reflect on lessons learned from recent crises, enduring structural inequities, and the challenges of communicating science in an era of mistrust and disinformation. 

Rather than rehearsing partisan narratives or relitigating past controversies, this conversation will focus on how evidence-based policy and ethical leadership, can better protect the health and rights of all people in the United States.   

ADM (Ret.) Rachel Levine, M.D., USPHS served as the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and led the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Prior to Dr. Levine’s federal service, she served as Secretary of Health and Physician General in Pennsylvania where she led the state’s response to the acute phase of COVID-19 and the opioid epidemic. She entered public service in 2015 after a career in academic medicine including as professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine. She completed her residency and fellowship at Mt. Sinai, earned her M.D. at Tulane University, and completed her undergraduate work at Harvard College. 

She is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, and Academy for Eating Disorders and served as President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. 

Dr. Levine has been named by USA Today as one of their 2022 Women of the Year, by Time Magazine to their inaugural list of the 100 most influential climate leaders in the world, and she is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. She is currently a Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Senior Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights.  

Dr. Robert R. Redfield, MD, is a virologist, former Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry from 2018 to 2021. He was the Senior Public Health Advisor to Governor Hogan and the State of Maryland from 2021 to 2023. He is currently a Senior Visiting Fellow for Biosecurity and Public Health Policy at the Heritage Foundation.

He is the author of Redfield’s Warning: What I Learned (But Couldn’t Tell You) Might Save Your Life. He also served as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and member of the board of Operation Warp Spread. He was a member of the US President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS from 2005 to 2009 and was appointed as Chair of the International Subcommittee from 2006 to 2009. He is a past member of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health, the Fogarty International Center Advisory Board at the National Institutes of Health, and the Advisory Anti-Infective Agent Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  

Dr. Redfield is a co-founder of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine. He has more than 45 years of experience in antiviral drug and vaccine development and is known for his contributions in clinical research into the virology and therapeutic treatments of HIV infection and other viruses. 

He also has extensive experience in Global Health both from his time in the US Army and his time at the University of Maryland, where he  served as the Chief of Infectious Disease, Vice Chair of Medicine and Emeritus Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Immunology and Microbiology.  

Recently, he was also appointed as a distinguished Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. He served in the US Army from 1977-1996 as a physician and medical researcher and retired as a Colonel in 1996. 

This event will be Livestreamed on the Carr-Ryan YouTube Channel. Click here to join live event.