Facing the Urban Health Challenge: NYC and International Perspectives – Jo Ivey Boufford, MD

Our world is rapidly urbanizing – over half of the globe’s population now lives in cities, a proportion that’s projected to increase to 70% by 2050. Jo Ivey Boufford, MD, President of The New York Academy of Medicine, will discuss these trends and their implications for health. Cities, characterized by their density, complexity, and diversity, pose unique challenges and opportunities. When well managed, they can be engines of economic development, hubs for innovation, and centers for social progress. They also have the potential to promote and foster health and well-being. Dr. Boufford, drawing both from her international experiences, as well as the work of the Academy in New York City, will review a new urban agenda for health, and highlight lessons learned for effective urban governance from the Academy’s Age-Friendly New York City initiative.

About the Speaker

Jo Ivey Boufford, MD is President of The New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Boufford is Professor Emeritus of Public Service, Health Policy and Management at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine. She is Co-Director of the National Program Office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars Program. She served as Dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University from June 1997 to November 2002. Prior to that, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from November 1993 to January 1997, and as Acting Assistant Secretary from January 1997 to May 1997. While at HHS, she served as the U.S. representative on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1994–1997.

From May 1991 to September 1993, Dr. Boufford served as Director of the King’s Fund College, London, England. She served as President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) the largest municipal system in the United States, from December 1985 until October 1989. In 2010, she was appointed by Governor Cuomo to serve on the New York State Public Health and Health Planning Council. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Council and Chair of its Public Health Committee. She also serves on the board of the United Hospital Fund and Public Health Solutions in New York.

Dr. Boufford was awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship at the Institute of Medicine in Washington, DC for 1979–1980. She served as a member of the National Council on Graduate Medical Education 1998-2002 and the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality from 1997–2002. She was President of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration in 2002–2003. Elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) now National Academy of Medicine in 1992, she served as its Foreign Secretary from 2005 to 2015 and is a member of its Board on Global Health. She received Honorary Doctorate of Science degrees from the State University of New York, Brooklyn, May 1992, New York Medical College, May 2007, Pace University, May 2011 and Toledo University, June 2012. She was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration in 2005. She has been a Fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine since 1988 and a Trustee since 2004.

Dr. Boufford attended Wellesley College for two years and received her BA (Psychology) magna cum laude from the University of Michigan, and her MD, with distinction, from the University of Michigan Medical School. She is Board Certified in pediatrics.