Championing Global Health - Examining the UN's SDGs | An Upcoming Twitter Chat with The Dow Chemical Company, GSK, BD, The Global Health Fellows Program II and PYXERA Global

“There is a shift taking place in the public health arena to strategically engage the private sector to address global health needs,” said Bridget McHenry, a Fellow for Global Health Fellows Program II serving as Organizational Development Advisor for Office of Population and Reproductive Health in USAID's Global Health Bureau.

The United Nations just ratified the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), providing the foundation for action to solve some of the world’s most difficult challenges. This is a tremendous opportunity for the private, public, and social sectors to partner to improve global health worldwide.

This LIVE Twitter chat on October 14th at 11am EST will serve as a primer for PYXERA Global’s upcoming Global Engagement Forum, November 10-12. The LIVE Twitter chat discussion will focus on how companies like The Dow Chemical Company, GSK, and BD are impacting global health, and the innovative approach of The Global Health Fellows Program II to attract and align corporate global health champions to improve public health worldwide.

Join 3BL Media (@3BLMedia) along with Neil Hawkins, Dow (@neilchawkins),   Susan Rae Ross, USAID, Priya Madina, GSK (@Primad77), Gary Cohen and Renuka Gadde, BD (@BDGlobalHealth), The Global Health Fellows Program II (@GHFPII) and PYXERA Global (@PYXERAGlobal), to discuss the SDGs and the opportunities to improve global health through tri-sector partnerships. With only 60 minutes to discuss these SDGs, the chat will touch on topics areas that impact the panelists the most.

Topics of this chat to include:

• Courageous collaboration to advance global health and the SDGs
• Being a champion for global health
• Providing skills and resources to improve quality of life
• Ensuring healthy lives and well-being for all
• Building sustainable health systems
• Shared value approach and examples of advancing global health and the SDGs

Tips to get the most from #SDGforum:

• Follow the main participants and #SDGforum hashtag.
• Submit questions before the event to promote a more dynamic discussion.
• Use the #SDGforum hashtag on your comments that you want to share with the community.
• Share tweets you think your followers will appreciate.
• Follow interesting participants during and after the chat.

About the panelists:

Neil C. Hawkins, Sc.D., Corporate Vice President, EH&S, and Chief Sustainability Officer, The Dow Chemical Company

As the Chief Sustainability Officer and Corporate Vice President for The Dow Chemical Company, Dr. Hawkins drives strategy and implementation for Dow’s sustainability and EH&S programs, including the Company’s 2025 Sustainability Goals. Hawkins is a global leader in the private sector in sustainable business practices, EH&S management, and public policy platforms for global sustainable development, and is the architect of many breakthrough collaborations at the intersections of business, government and society. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR); a member of the International Olympics Committee Sustainability and Legacy Commission; and a member of the Committee on Global Policy and Government Affairs of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). He was recently appointed by UNEP as the first business representative to the High Level Group of the GEO-6 global environment assessment. He holds doctoral and master’s degrees from Harvard, and is also an alumnus of Georgia Tech.

Susan Rae Ross, Senior Private Sector Partnership Advisor, USAID

Susan Rae Ross is a highly regarded multi-sector partnership expert, international health and development specialist, author and speaker.  Ms. Ross’ third award winning book, Expanding the Pie: Fostering Effective NonProfit and Corporate Partnerships, examines current trends, benefits and challenges of partnerships and provides a meta-analysis of successful partnership cases studies. 

Ms. Ross served as the Secretariat Director for the Saving Mothers, Giving Life (SMGL) public-private partnership launched by Secretary Clinton to reduce maternal deaths by 50% in selected districts in Uganda and Zambia.  She has held senior management positions within USAID and CARE, leading many multi-million dollar projects including groundbreaking work to improve maternal and newborn care globally. 

Gary M. Cohen, Executive Vice President, President, Global Health and Development, BD

Gary Cohen is Executive Vice President and President, Global Health and Development at BD (Becton, Dickinson & Co).  In addition to his responsibilities at BD, Mr. Cohen is acting CEO of GBCHealth, Vice Chair and board director of the US Fund for UNICEF and a board director of the CDC Foundation, Perrigo Company and Accordia Global Health Foundation.  He further serves as a Vice Chair of the UN Special Envoy’s Office for Financing the Health-Related Millennium Development Goals and recently served on the UN Commission on Life Saving Commodities for Women and Children.  Mr. Cohen is the founder of Together for Girls, a partnership consisting of five UN agencies, the Governments of the United States and Canada and others to end violence against children, particularly sexual violence against girls.  He is a member of the UN Secretary General’s Network of Men Leaders, associated with the UNITE campaign to end violence against women and girls.

Renuka Gadde, Vice President, Global Health, BD

Renuka Gadde is Vice President, Global Health, at BD.  She works across businesses for market assessment and development for global health-related products and technologies, and on advocacy and policy, public-private partnerships and engagement with global and local funding organizations.  She is responsible for establishing sustainable business strategies for BD’s Maternal and Newborn Health portfolio with focus on creating access for countries with a high burden of maternal and newborn mortality. Ms. Gadde also manages BD’s flagship Partnership, Labs for Life, with PEPFAR and CDC which focuses on strengthening lab systems across sub-Africa and India.

Priya Madina, Director, Government Affairs, Global Issues, GSK

Priya is currently appointed Director, Government Affairs, Global Issues, in the Government Affairs, Public Policy, Patient Advocacy (GAPPPA) team at GSK. This role focuses on government affairs support on international intellectual property and global health issues, including the post-2015 agenda. Priya previously worked in GSK’s UK Pharmaceuticals business. Priya’s past experience includes a wide range of policy roles in the public sector, including working at the World Health Organization and the Department of Health’s Industry Sponsorship branch.

The Global Health Fellows Program (GHFP) II: Implemented and led by the Public Health Institute, GHFP-II increases the effectiveness of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Global Health programs. The program’s vision is to recruit, place, and support technical experts with the talent and diversity needed to enhance USAID's global health leadership now and into the future. 

PYXERA Global: For more than 25 years, PYXERA Global has leveraged the unique strengths of corporations, governments, social sector organizations, educational institutions, and individuals to enhance the abilities of people and communities to solve complex problems and attain mutually beneficial goals.  A key initiative is a partnership with the USAID Global Health Fellows Program II to strengthen programming to attract and align corporate global health champions to improve public health worldwide.  PYXERA Global is hosting a series of events to bring the #GlobalGoals to life, including “The Global Engagement Forum” November 10-12, 2015.