Crisis Response: Delivering Global Health in Emergencies

Get Talking! is an in-person discussion series focused on the most challenging issues facing healthcare today including equitable access to care, legislation, funding, delivery, and innovation.

Hosted by the Translational Research Program (TRP) at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, it is intended to showcase multiple perspectives and create a forum for a constructive, respectful discussion.

Speakers:

Pulkit Aggrwal, Portfolio Manager at Grand Challenges Canada. Pulkit works as a Portfolio Manager at Grand Challenges Canada, one of Canada’s largest impact investment organizations. As part of this role, he leads investments in digital health innovations and manages a portfolio with an investment volume of >$20M CAD. For over half a decade he has been working in impact investing in health innovations in the global south. Prior to moving to Toronto in 2021, he was working with India Health Fund, a venture philanthropy fund, focusing on innovations in infectious diseases like Tuberculosis and Malaria. He has worked in management consulting at McKinsey & Company and for a larger part of his career he has been involved in the healthcare and social impact sectors. He has a master’s in international law and diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, in the US, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

Dr. Fahad Razak, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Dr. Fahad Razak is a physician, epidemiologist, and thought leader in global and public health. He was appointed to serve as the Scientific Director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table in 2022, with the responsibility to guide scientists and policy makers as to how to translate expert scientific data into actionable recommendations for policymakers and the public. Dr. Razak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. He is also an internist at St. Michael’s Hospital, where he applies his expertise in epidemiology and medicine to improve health outcomes at both individual and population levels. A dedicated science communicator, Dr. Razak co-founded The Rounds Table, a widely acclaimed podcast that shares updates on the latest medical research, with over 400,000 downloads across 150 countries. He is also a prolific writer, contributing thought-provoking pieces to major publications, including The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and Maclean’s. Dr. Razak’s academic background includes a degree in Engineering Science and a Medical Doctorate from the University of Toronto. He was the first physician to be appointed as the David E. Bell Fellow at Harvard University. His groundbreaking contributions to medicine and public health have earned him numerous accolades, including the University of Toronto’s President’s Impact Award, the Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship from the PSI Foundation, and the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine’s New Investigator Award.