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POLICY BRIEF article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Public Health Policy

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1564709

Public Health Diplomacy: Summary of the methods and outcome of the 1st University of Memphis School of Public Health Diplomacy Summit

Provisionally accepted
Ashish Joshi Ashish Joshi 1*Laura Magaña Laura Magaña 2Kun-Hsien Tsai Kun-Hsien Tsai 3Diana Maddah Diana Maddah 4Kerry Mitchell Kerry Mitchell 5Diana Ruggiero Diana Ruggiero 6W Bradley Hawkins W Bradley Hawkins 7Shafik Dharamsi Shafik Dharamsi 8Jihad Makhoul Jihad Makhoul 9Rodrigo Reis Rodrigo Reis 10Soyoon Kim Soyoon Kim 11Wah Yun Low Wah Yun Low 12Woldekidan Amde Woldekidan Amde 13Glory Nja Glory Nja 14Michelle Jeu Michelle Jeu 1Bridget Kelly Bridget Kelly 15Bernard Saliba Bernard Saliba 16Niharika Jha Niharika Jha 1Ramune Kalediene Ramune Kalediene 17Giada Scarpetti Giada Scarpetti 18Erica Kastrup Erica Kastrup 19Rajendra Surenthirakumaran Rajendra Surenthirakumaran 20Catherine Kane Catherine Kane 21William Yotive William Yotive 22Matthew Brown Matthew Brown 23Xinhua Yu Xinhua Yu 1Gretchen Peterson Gretchen Peterson 24Beverly Tsacoyianis Beverly Tsacoyianis 25Michael Arthur Ofori Michael Arthur Ofori 1Marian Levy Marian Levy 1Stella Dockery Stella Dockery 1Maryam Karimi Maryam Karimi 1Kami Geron Kami Geron 1Saloni Patel Saloni Patel 1Dorothy Biberman Dorothy Biberman 2Michelle Taylor Michelle Taylor 26Aeryn Longuevan Aeryn Longuevan 1Steve Shular Steve Shular 1Tim K Mackey Tim K Mackey 27
  • 1 School of Public Health, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, United States
  • 2 Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States
  • 3 Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
  • 4 Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
  • 5 Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, St George's University, True Blue, Grenada
  • 6 Department of World Languages and Literatures, University of Memphis, Memphis, United States
  • 7 Institute for Medicine and Public Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Indiana, United States
  • 8 School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas, United States
  • 9 Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
  • 10 People Health and Place Unit, Prevention Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, United States
  • 11 Department of Medical Law and Ethics, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • 12 Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 13 School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape,, Bellville, South Africa
  • 14 Department of Public Health Technology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria
  • 15 Center for Early Start, Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
  • 16 University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • 17 Department of Health Management, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
  • 18 Department of Health Care Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • 19 CRIS Center for International Relations in Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 20 Department of Community Medicine, University of Jaffna, Jaffna, Sri Lanka
  • 21 World Health Organization (Switzerland), Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 22 World Federation of United Nations Associations, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 23 Global Health Policy and Data Institute,, San Diego, United States
  • 24 Department of Sociology, University of Memphis, Memphis, United States
  • 25 Department of History, University of Memphis, Memphis, United States
  • 26 Shelby County Health Department, Memphis, Tennessee, United States
  • 27 Global Health Program, Department of Anthropology, UC San Diego, San Dego, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    •Public health diplomacy addresses global challenges impacting societies, economies, the environment, and health by integrating foreign policy and development.•The University of Memphis School of Public Health hosted a multistakeholder summit to identify strategies and competencies essential for effective public health diplomacy.•A 3-day summit included 29 participants from 15 countries, representing the WHO, the World Federation of United Nations, and seven regional public health associations.•An iterative human-centered design (HCD) approach and concept mapping were employed to facilitate discussions and generate actionable recommendations.•Developed a working definition of Public Health Diplomacy emphasizing cross-disciplinary collaborations, communication, negotiation, and consensus building.•Produced a 9-point action plan to establish a global framework, launch capacity-building initiatives, and institutionalize public health diplomacy as a public health discipline.

    Keywords: Health diplomacy, Public Health Diplomacy, Global health governance, Health Policy, Global Health Security, Public health competencies

    Received: 22 Jan 2025; Accepted: 20 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Joshi, Magaña, Tsai, Maddah, Mitchell, Ruggiero, Hawkins, Dharamsi, Makhoul, Reis, Kim, Low, Amde, Nja, Jeu, Kelly, Saliba, Jha, Kalediene, Scarpetti, Kastrup, Surenthirakumaran, Kane, Yotive, Brown, Yu, Peterson, Tsacoyianis, Ofori, Levy, Dockery, Karimi, Geron, Patel, Biberman, Taylor, Longuevan, Shular and Mackey. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ashish Joshi, School of Public Health, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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