Empathy: The Emperor’s New Clothes –– or Public Health’s Emerging Superhero?

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Is empathy just another new age buzzword? Or, is it enabling more user-friendly and impactful public health programming and measurable impact on community wellness?

Matchboxology and USAID’s Center for Innovation and Impact (CII) invite you to join us in a debate of the evidence to date, guided by a roundtable of experts in global health and empathy, on Wednesday, June 27, 11:30 am–1:00 pm at The Loft, 600 F Street, NW, Washington, DC.

USAID, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DFID, and other major development partners are increasingly calling out human-centered and user-centered design thinking to fuel innovation in public health programming. Empathy lies at the heart of these approaches and is often cited as a critical factor in delivering exceptional success, growth, and productivity. This is the perfect time for global health program designers and implementers to engage in thought leadership on the impact of empathy in global health and how we might best apply and measure it.

Introduction and Welcome:

Jessica Daly, Senior Portfolio Lead of Global Health at the Medtronic Foundation

Amy Lin, Acting Deputy Director at CII

Panel Discussion:

Prof. Paul Bloom, Bestselling Author of “Against Empathy” and Professor at Yale University

Thomas J. Coates, PhD, Director at the UCLA Center for World Health and University of California Global Health Institute

Dr. Mark Dybul, Professor at Georgetown University Medical Center and former Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Elizabeth Fox, Senior Advisor at USAID’s Bureau for Global Health and Deputy and Coordinator for Maternal and Child Survival

Rosaura Polanco, Promotora at Grameen PrimaCare USA

Moderator: Cal Bruns, Founder and Chief Innovationist at Matchboxology

Please join by clicking the “Register” button above. Check-in will begin at 11:00 am, and the roundtable will begin promptly at 11:30. We welcome you to bring your own lunch. To learn more, visit Matchboxology, CII, and Medtronic Foundation homepages, or follow us on Twitter @Matchboxology, @CIIimpact and @MDTFoundation.