March 9 Thompson Forum to examine health care

Laurie Garrett
Laurie Garrett

Award-winning author and science journalist Laurie Garrett will offer insights on the realities of health care in the Unites States and across the globe when she delivers the next lecture in the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues.

Garrett, considered among the country's premier authorities on health care and disease prevention, will present "Betrayal of Trust: Critical Issues in Global Health Care," at 7 p.m. March 9 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.

Garrett has traveled the world to research and report the spread of some of the most deadly viruses in existence. As part of her multimedia presentation, she will draw on her best-selling book, "Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health," to explore both the challenges and opportunities of delivering quality health care.

Understanding what's happening in other parts of the world is critical because of the mobility of populations, said Kim Russel, president and CEO of BryanLGH Health System.

"Transportation has become so easy that frankly, populations are no longer isolated as they have been in the past," Russel said. "So we all need to be very tuned in to and very interested in global health issues because they do impact us."

The senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, Garrett is the recipient of three prestigious journalism awards: the Peabody, the Polk (twice) and the Pulitzer.

She has written for many publications, including Foreign Affairs, Esquire, Vanity Fair, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. She appears frequently on national television programs like ABC's "Nightline" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Garrett is well known for her ability to explain in plain language the science behind new threats to public health - both natural and man-made - and the political background that shapes the debate on this issue in America and around the world.

Garrett's lecture is next-to-last in this season's Thompson Forum series, which explores the theme of "Globalization's Promise." The series concludes April 12 with "Who's Afraid of International Trade?" by international business scholar Pietra Rivoli.

To reserve free tickets, call the Lied Center at (402) 472-4747 or (800) 432-3231. Tickets may also be picked up in person or ordered by downloading a form from the Thompson Forum website, http://enthompson.unl.edu.

Thompson Forum lectures will be available live online at http://www.unl.edu, on Lincoln TimeWarner Cable Channel 21 or 5, NETSAT 105, UNL campus Channel 8 and UNL's KRNU radio (90.3 FM). Live satellite broadcasts and follow-up discussion will be available in Kearney, Hastings, Columbus, McCook, North Platte, Omaha and Scottsbluff.

The lecture series is a cooperative project of the philanthropic Cooper Foundation, the Lied Center and UNL. It was established in 1988 to offer all Nebraskans a better understanding of world events and issues.

- Jean Ortiz Jones, University Communications

More details at: http://enthompson.unl.edu/