Bridging the divide: non-communicable and infectious diseases in a changing global health landscape
Monday, September 22, 2025, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm (ET)
Weill Cornell Medicine, Belfer Research Building, 3rd floor conference rooms, 413 East 69th Street, New York, NY 10021
Co-organized by:
In collaboration with:
At the start of the High-Level Week of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, the Mérieux Foundation Weill Cornell Medical College and the GHESKIO Centers are convening a special session to:
- Explore the growing links between infection, chronic disease, and mental health.
- Advance dialogue across science and policy communities to dismantle entrenched silos.
- Discuss how to shape the post-2030 global health agenda to improve patient outcomes, increase equitable access to care and spread limited resources further.
For too long, global health has treated infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health as separate challenges. Outdated assumptions have left critical blind spots in prevention, research, and policy. There has been a misunderstanding that infectious diseases can be “cured” and once cured, individuals move on without any problems. However, new scientific insights are revealing that infections have long term chronic consequences such as cancer, heart disease, and lung disease.
Program
Welcome remarks
- Dr. Dan Fitzgerald, B.H. Kean Professor in Tropical Medicine, Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College
Introduction
- Stewart Simonson, Senior Advisor at Global Health Strategies; Mérieux Foundation USA Board member
Keynote Address
- Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, Director, Pan American Health Organization
Round table 1: Cancer and infectious diseases
Chaired by Andrew Jack, Financial Times
- Dr. Su Wang, Senior Advisor for Global Health, Hepatitis B Foundation
- Ulrika Årehed Kågström, President, Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)
- Prof. Helen Rees, Executive Director, Wits RHI
Round table 2: Cardiovascular and infectious diseases
Chaired by Dr. Jean-William Pape, Howard and Carol Holtzmann Professor of Clinical Medicine, Center for Global Health, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College; Director, GHESKIO Centers
- Dr. Tom Frieden, Founder and CEO, Resolve to Save Lives
- Dr. Robert Sebbag, Doctor of Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases, Pitié Salpétrière Hospital; Vice President, Mérieux Foundation
- Dr. Margaret McNairy, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Center of Global Health, Weill Cornell Medicine
Closing remarks
- Dr. Kevin De Cock, former Director, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Center for Global Health and CDC program in Kenya; Mérieux Foundation USA Board member