On Monday, Oct. 7, the Heersink School of Medicine hosted the 2024 Leadership in Academic Medicine Lecture in the Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium. Jim Yong Kim, M.D., Ph.D., vice chairman and partner at Global Infrastructure Partners, presented his talk, "Reflections on 40 Years in Global Health: The Power of Faith in Things Unseen." Started in 2014, this annual lecture aims to bring high-profile leaders to UAB to discuss issues facing academic medical centers across all missions.
“Kim’s talk and meetings underscored the power of challenging the status quo and collaboration or ‘going together’ to bring about progress in global health,” said Alan Tita, M.D., Ph.D., senior associate dean for Global and Women’s Health and director for the Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health.
The event began with an introduction from Anupam Agarwal, M.D., dean of the Heersink School of Medicine. Agarwal welcomed attendees and provided brief comments on the lecture. Agarwal then introduced Tita, who announced the establishment of the Cassell Family Bi-directional Training Endowed Support Fund, made possible by a gift of $1 million from the Cassell family.
Kim began his lecture by recalling his childhood, and his move from Korea to the United States at a young age. After completing his Ph.D., Kim felt inspired to learn more about his home country, and the economic hardship it had faced. It was then he decided to go back to Korea in order to provide healthcare to its citizens. He returned to the United States in 1988 and co-founded Partners in Health (PIH).
Kim’s work with PIH led him to Peru, where he began to study multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Despite the pushback he received from the World Health Organization (WHO), Kim and his colleagues were able to lower the production costs of the drugs used to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, allowing treatment to become possible in poorer countries.
Following his work on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, Kim turned his focus to the treatment of HIV. Once again, he and his colleagues were able to significantly reduce the price of the drugs used to treat the condition.
Kim’s work in global health has left a significant impact. He was eventually hired as the president of Dartmouth College. Just a few years after accepting the position, he was recruited to serve as the president of the World Bank. While president, Kim developed the Human Capital Index, which showed that countries investing in healthcare and education see faster economic growth.
Today, Kim has turned his sights toward mental health. “Mental health now is a disaster everywhere,” said Kim. “Suicides, especially among girls, in Gen Z are just frighteningly high. I think we’re going to look back and say, ‘Why weren’t we more aggressive about making sure that everyone got access to mental health care?’”
Watch the full lecture below, and click here to see photos from the event.