Addicted to Gov

Douglas Elmendorf has served as Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School since 2016. Dean Elmendorf served as the director of the Congressional budget Office from 2009 to 2015. He was previously an assistant professor at Harvard University, a senior economist at the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, and an assistant director of the Division of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board. Today Dean Elmendorf shares his thoughts on the relationship between academia and real world policy making, his vision for the Kennedy School in an ever-changing global landscape, and the challenges and joys of public leadership.

Dara Kay Cohen is a Ford Foundation Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her research and teaching focus on international security, civil war and gender. Her book, Rape During Civil War (2016) received the 2017 Theodore J. Lowi First Book Award from the American Political Science Association, the 2018 Best Book Award from the International Security Studies Section. Dr. Cohen is the recipient of the 2019 Emerging Scholar Award from the International Studies Association.

Aaron Huang is a Pickering Fellow and MPP candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has worked in the State Department in East Asia for the last 3 years and will serve in the Foreign Service for a minimum of 5 years upon graduation. Aaron also currently works at the Carr Center for Human Rights doing research on electoral reform. Aaron shares his perspectives on Chinese-American relations, human rights, and how to better serve the American people through diplomacy.

Ben Mclarey is a senior at Harvard and has worked for the City of Marshfield public works department maintenance team for 3 years. Ben shares his thoughts on the importance of local government, civiv engagement, vocational education, and compulsory national service.

Dr. Rick Wolthusen is a medical doctor and founder/director of NGO, On The Move. On The Move aims to build a mental health infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa and currently operates in 3 countries and has over 100 members. Rick is an MPP candidate, a researcher at Martinos Center for Biomedical Engineering, and also pioneered the Mental Health Caucus at the Harvard Kennedy School to increase awareness about the brain and mental health. Rick shares his insights about psychiatric methods, stigma and how we communicate about mental health, how to operate a multi-sector NGO sustainably, and how to build better environments to support healthy brains. https://www.on-the-move.de/en/homepage/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmqVsCx2qVQ