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Joan Kaufman, DS

Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine, Part-time, Harvard Medical School

Joan Kaufman, MA, MS, ScD, is the Senior Director for Academic Programs for the Schwarzman Scholars Program. She is also a lecturer on global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School. She was previously the director of Columbia University’s Global Center for East Asia, founder and director of the AIDS Public Policy Program as well as principal and faculty affiliate of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and distinguished scientist and senior lecturer at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. From 2012-2016 she directed Columbia University’s Global Center for East Asia, one of eight global centers working with the university to lead work on issues of global concern, and was Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Mailman School of Public Health. From 2008-2011, she was the associate director for academics for the masters in science program in international health policy and management, one of two sustainable international development master’s degree programs at the Heller School, Brandeis University. Dr. Kaufman also worked as the China team leader for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative from 2002 to 2012. Dr. Kaufman was the first UNFPA international program officer in China in the 1980s and from 1996 to 2001, she was the Ford Foundation’s reproductive health program officer for China based in Beijing.

She spent 2001–2002 as a Radcliffe fellow at Harvard and 2005-2006 as a Soros reproductive health and rights fellow. In 2002, she founded the AIDS Public Policy Project at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, a program which trained government officials in China and Vietnam about the multi-sectoral and governance requirements for an effective HIV/AIDS response.

She holds a doctorate in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health, master’s degrees in Asian studies and health and medical sciences from UC Berkeley, and BA cum laude in Chinese studies from Trinity College. She has published widely on AIDS, reproductive health, gender, population and international health policy, emerging infectious diseases, and civil society and health with a focus on China.

Dr. Kaufman teaches, advises, conducts research on global health policy issues and works as  the  Senior Director for Academic Programs for the Schwarzman Scholars Program, a one-year masters in global affairs modeled on the Rhodes Scholars program and based at Tsinghua University in China. She was previously the Director of Columbia University’s Global Center for East Asia, Distinguished Scientist at Brandeis University, founder and Director of the AIDS Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, and the China team leader for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, a public-private partnership based in New York. She has served as program officer for both the United Nations Population Fund and the Ford Foundation in their China offices. She holds a doctorate in public health from Harvard, was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, and named as a Soros Reproductive Health and Rights fellow. Dr. Kaufman speaks Mandarin and has lived in China for more than 15 years, working closely with the government and key donors on many aspects of HIV prevention and service provision and community participation, reproductive health improvement, and women’s rights achievement. Her research projects focus on building the capacity for government and nongovernmental-organization collaboration on China’s AIDS response, improving reproductive health services for poor women, developing and evaluating mental health counseling interventions for AIDS orphans, and examining social policies and demographic evidence related to the impacts of China’s one-child population policy. She has collaborated with global research networks aimed at improving the integration of HIV/AIDS and reproductive health services and to improve women’s participation in health planning in poor communities in Asia and Africa aimed at reducing maternal mortality and morbidity and improving diagnosis and treatment of reproductive-tract infections. Current projects include a focus on China’s health aid to Africa, China’s increasing participation in global health governance mechanisms, and an in-depth examination of adolescent health needs in China and globally. Her overall research and teaching focuses on gender, population and global health policy and governance issues including health and trade, health and climate change, emerging infectious diseases and health security.

Health Aid to Africa: Findings from Qualitative Interviews in Tanzania and Malawi
Authors: Garrison Daly, Joan Kaufman, Shuang Lin, Liangmin Gao, Melissa Reyes, Sarah Matemu, and Wafaa El-Sadr
Globalization and Health. 2020
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-020-00577-0

Why China’s politics makes it easier — and harder — to control disease outbreaks: It's not just about wild animal markets
Author: Joan Kaufman
The Washington Post. 2020-01-29
View article online

Community-based mental health counseling for children orphaned by AIDS in China.
Authors: Authors: Kaufman JA, Zeng W, Wang L, Zhang Y.
AIDS Care
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AIDS funds: Rwanda.
Authors: Authors: Asiimwe A, Rwiyereka AK, Kaufman JA, Shepard DS.
Science
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China's heath care system and avian influenza preparedness.
Authors: Authors: Kaufman JA.
J Infect Dis
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Quality of care in China: scaling up a pilot project into a national reform program.
Authors: Authors: Kaufman J, Erli Z, Zhenming X.
Stud Fam Plann
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Impact of an intervention to improve treatment-seeking behavior and prevent sexually transmitted diseases among Nigerian youths.
Authors: Authors: Okonofua FE, Coplan P, Collins S, Oronsaye F, Ogunsakin D, Ogonor JT, Kaufman JA, Heggenhougen K.
Int J Infect Dis
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Privatisation of health services and the reproductive health of rural Chinese women.
Authors: Authors: Kaufman J, Jing F.
Reprod Health Matters
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Development and natural history of mood disorders.
Authors: Authors: Costello EJ, Pine DS, Hammen C, March JS, Plotsky PM, Weissman MM, Biederman J, Goldsmith HH, Kaufman J, Lewinsohn PM, Hellander M, Hoagwood K, Koretz DS, Nelson CA, Leckman JF.
Biol Psychiatry
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China and AIDS--the time to act is now.
Authors: Authors: Kaufman J, Jing J.
Science
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