Grand Rounds — COVID at 5: Lessons and Way Forward

On April 1, 2025, ICAP will present the Grand Rounds – COVID at 5: Lessons and Way Forward. This month marks five years since the COVID-19 pandemic brought New York City to a halt and set off waves of mass casualties and disruption worldwide. As we reflect on this watershed moment in our collective history and for global health, we must – now, more than ever – uphold the lessons learned and renew our commitment to public health resilience. Please join us for this special Grand Rounds event in which we will welcome Dr. Ashwin Vasan, former Commissioner of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, for a keynote presentation on the evolution of New York City’s response to COVID-19 over the past five years, key lessons learned, and where we stand today in the face of potential threats. Following the presentation, we will welcome key representatives from the WHO African Region and NYC Preparedness and Recovery Institute (PRI) for a panel discussion on how we can apply the lessons learned to advancing both local and global health.

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Presenters
Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD, Primary Care Physician, Division of General Medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Dr. Ashwin Vasan is the former commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr. Vasan is a primary care physician, epidemiologist, and public health expert with nearly 20 years of experience working to improve physical and mental health, social welfare, and public policy for marginalized populations in New York City, nationally, and globally. Since 2014, he has served on the faculty at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and he continues to see patients as a primary care internist in the Division of General Medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Vasan most recently served as the president and CEO of the national nonprofit Fountain House. Early in his career, Dr. Vasan spent nearly a decade at the intersection of global health, HIV and primary care, working with the nonprofit Partners In Health (PIH) in Rwanda, Lesotho, and Boston, and at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Uganda and Geneva.

Mitch Stripling, MPA, Director, NYC Preparedness and Recovery Institute
Mitch Stripling is the director of the NYC Preparedness and Recovery Institute (PRI). He has a long history of leadership roles in emergency management, disaster response and planning, coordination, and response to public health crises. Before joining PRI, Stripling served as the national director for Emergency Preparedness and Response at Planned Parenthood (PPFA). Before PPFA, Stripling served in leadership positions at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH), first as a director of the Emergency Planning Unit and later as assistant commissioner for Agency Preparedness and Response. Prior to his roles in New York City, Stripling coordinated disaster responses for the Florida Department of Health. He has helped plan and implement the responses to more than twenty federally declared disasters and public health emergencies.

Fiona Braka, MD, MPH, Emergency Response Manager, WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO)
Dr. Fiona Braka is the emergency response manager of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, based in Brazzaville, Congo. She leads the regional response operations to acute and protracted health emergencies, including disease outbreaks and humanitarian crises. Her role also entails coordination of AFRO support to countries to strengthen their local capacities for emergency response through the AFRO EPR SURGE initiative. Dr. Braka has two decades of national and international experience with the World Health Organization (WHO). Before joining the regional office in 2021, she served in different roles in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Uganda, where she led WHO efforts to eradicate wild polio virus and supported national governments to strengthen vaccination programs. Originally from Uganda, Dr. Braka holds a medical degree from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland, USA.