April 10, 2025

Held each academic year, the Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health's (DSPH) Population Health Spotlight Series offers a dynamic platform to explore cutting-edge public health research and practice—locally, nationally, and globally—with a strong emphasis on advancing population health and addressing health disparities.

This year's series was a collaboration between Dornsife and Drexel’s College of Medicine (DUCOM) as it was funded in part by the Dr. Elias “Eli” Abrutyn Memorial Lecture Fund. Dr. Abrutyn (1940 – 2007) was an infectious disease expert and former Associate Provost and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at DUCOM.

Esther Chernak, MD, MPH, FACP, Clinical Professor at DSPH and Professor at DUCOM, led the event planning committee that made the series possible.

“The series was a great opportunity to honor the memory of Dr. Eli Abrutyn – a renowned Infectious Disease physician and mentor to so many in our community. And we were grateful to host our speakers – all experts in different aspects of important issues in addressing infectious diseases today,” said Chernak.

The theme was "Infectious Disease: Prevention, Prediction, and Perspectives" and welcomed four renowned experts in this discipline from November 2024 to April 2025:

• Meghan Davis, PhD, Associate Professor and Doctoral Program Director in Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
• Michele Andrasik, PhD, Director of Social Behavioral Sciences and Community Engagement for the Fred Hutchinson-based HIV Vaccine Trials Network and the COVID-19 Prevention Network, Principal Staff Scientist in the Fred Hutchinson Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, and Affiliate Associate Professor, Departments of Global Health and Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Washington
• Heidi J. Larson, PhD, Anthropologist and Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project™; Professor of Anthropology, Risk, and Decision Science, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Clinical Professor, Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington; and Guest Professor at the University of Antwerp, Belgium
• Stanley A. Plotkin, MD, Emeritus Professor of the University of Pennsylvania, and Adjunct Professor of the Johns Hopkins University

Below are photos and video recordings from the lectures. The videos include presentations, complete with Q+As with attendees, who included members of the Drexel community, professionals from community-based organizations and government agencies, and individuals interested in the topic more broadly.

Talk Title: “One Health Approaches to Spillover Prevention, Detection and Response – What’s Going on with H1N1 Avian Influenza?”

Date: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 
Speaker: Dr. Davis

Talk Title: "Effectively Engaging Communities in Research: Building Relationships & Establishing Trust"

Date: Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Speaker: Dr. Andrasik

Please note this video recording is not available.

Talk Title: "Emotions, Inequalities and Technologies — Why They Matter to Infectious Disease Prevention"

Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Speaker: Dr. Larson

Talk Title: "Correlates of Vaccine-Induced Protection"

Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Speaker: Dr. Plotkin

Special thanks to all Population Health Spotlight Series speakers and participants. The next series will focus on another timely topic in the field of public health and begin in early fall 2025.

Have ideas for future topics or speakers? Let us know!

Check out the Population Health video archive