We are living in an era of Polycrisis. Multiple challenges are affecting the world simultaneously - from pandemics, conflicts, and climate crises to inflation, misinformation, and the collapse of public health services. The COVID-19 pandemic alone has had a devastating impact on our progress to achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Record temperatures and extreme weather events around the world remind us that pathogens and pollutants respect no borders or walls.

Polycrisis underscores an important truth; we are in an era of inevitable interdependence, and will need to understand complex, inter-connected systems which go well beyond healthcare sectors to secure health outcomes for future generations. Global solidarity and global citizenship are not mere buzzwords - they are critical for our collective survival.

While polycrises are overwhelming and anxiety-provoking, we do not have the luxury of giving up hope. "Hope is something you have to earn," said environmental activist, Greta Thunberg in her Climate Book. Hope comes from taking action. We must rise to the biggest challenges of our day, and work together, to do the best we can to address polycrisis, in solidarity with the most impacted communities, nationally and globally.

Join two of McGill's leading researchers: Dr Madhukar Pai and Dr Jill Baumgartner for a discussion moderated by Dr. Eileen De Villa, BSc'91, Toronto's Medical Officer of Health, in which they will explore the polycrisis, its effect on global health and where McGill is moving the needle on research to foster improved health outcomes for generations to come.

Speaker Bios:

Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD, FCAHS, FRSC, is the Inaugural Chair, Department of Global and Public Health at the McGill School of Population and Global Health. He holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology & Global Health. He was previously Director of the McGill International TB Centre. He is Editor-In-Chief of PLOS Global Public Health.

Jill Baumgartner is an Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar at McGill, and the incoming Director of the McGill Centre for Climate Change and Health. Her research investigates the links between the climate change,  environment, and health, with specific interest in urban heat, air pollution, and environmental policy evaluation.