Scott Ratzan

Scott C. Ratzan, is the first Distinguished Lecturer at CUNY SPH bringing three decades of pioneering accomplishments domestically and globally in health communication, health literacy and strategic diplomacy. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives, established in 1995. He recently was Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School where he published “Guiding Principles for Multisector Engagement for Sustainable Health (MESH) and a series of published articles related to vaccine communication in the Washington Post, Financial Times, JAMA and Lancet Infectious Disease. He currently serves on the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Board on Global Health, the RAND Health Advisory Board, and World Information Transfer, Inc. a UN accredited NGO.His experience has been in multiple sectors including development of multisectoral approaches to reduce harmful drinking, restrictions on tobacco, and promotion women and children’s health. His prior global roles were in Brussels and New Jersey with Johnson & Johnson, ABInBev in New York, and also at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington DC. He has also served as Co-Chair of the UN Secretary General’s Innovation Working Group in support of Every Woman Every Child as Vice Chair of the Business Industry Advisory Council’s Health Committee to the OECD, on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Well-Being and Mental Health. He was appointed to serve on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Board of Scientific Counselors for the Office of Infectious Disease.Dr. Ratzan is a co-author of the term health literacy adopted by HHS and integrated in the Affordable Care Act, defined as "the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions."His books include Vaccine Communication in a Pandemic: Strengthening Vaccine Literacy, Restoring Trust and Engaging Communities to Foster Vaccine Confidence and Uptake, TheMad Cow Crisis: Health and the Public Good, Attaining Global Health: Challenges and Opportunities, and AIDS: Effective Health Communication for the 90s.s.Scott has an M.D. from the University of Southern California, an M.P.A. from the Harvard Kennedy School, and an M.A. in Communication from Emerson College. His academic appointments include Adjunct Professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, Tufts University School of Medicine, and George Washington University School of Public Health.