Ron Waldman, MD, MPH began his career as a WHO volunteer in the Global Smallpox Eradication Programme in Bangladesh. He joined the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1979 and served for more than 25 years. During that time he helped establish the Refugee Health Unit in Somalia’s Ministry of Health, was Coordinator of the WHO Task Force for Cholera Control, was Technical Director of USAID’s flagship child survival project, BASICS, and worked to guide humanitarian assistance and to re-establish public health services in numerous conflict settings, including Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and Central Africa. In 1999 he became the Founding Director of the Program on Forced Migration and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. He has been working on pandemic preparedness and response since 2007, including as a Fellow at USAID, working with the UN Secretariat for Influenza Coordination to establish whole-of-society plans in many low-income countries. This year he is co-chairing a Working Group on COVID-19 in fragile states and countries in conflict for the World Health Organization and UHC2030. He is currently Professor of Global Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health of George Washington University and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Doctors of the World – USA.

MONTH	DATE	TIME	SESSION	SESSION TITLE
Dec 2020	10 Dec	13.00- 14.15 (BKK)	WS305	Investing in Pandemic Preparedness: Health Systems, Global Governance, Equity
Feb 2021	01 Feb	12.00- 13.30 (BKK)	PL3	Investing in the Future: Ensuring the World Will Never Be Vulnerable to Another ‘COVID-19’ Threat