Richard Hamman Lecture Series

This annual lecture, endowed in honor of founding dean Dr. Richard Hamman, is given by a leader in public health on a topic of interest to the Colorado School of Public Health and the CU Anschutz Medical Campus generally. Dr. Hamman joined the university in 1979 and was instrumental in leading the creation of the Colorado School of Public Health and served as Dean for the school’s first four years.

Steffanie Strathdee, PhD

"The Perfect Predator: A Scientist's Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug"

Steffanie Strathdee is an infectious disease epidemiologist who is Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences and Harold Simon Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Diego where she now codirects the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH). She is also an Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In 2016, Strathdee and colleagues were credited with saving her husband’s life from a deadly superbug infection using bacteriophages–viruses that attack bacteria. The case, which involved cooperation from three universities, the U.S. Navy, and researchers across the globe, shows how phage therapy is a future weapon against multi-drug resistant bacterial infections which are expected to kill 10 million people per year by 2050. Strathdee and her husband, Thomas Patterson, co-authored a book on their story.

This lecture and Arts in Medicine event took place on April 4, 2022.

Watch a recording of the Arts in Medicine event with Strathdee and Patterson >

Watch a recording of the Hamman Lecture with Strathdee >

Alfred Sommer, MD, MHS

"The Public's Health: Past, Present, Future?"

Alfred Sommer, MD, MHS is a professor of epidemiology and Dean Emeritus of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. An ophthalmologist and epidemiologist, his research showed that Vitamin A supplementation reduces childhood mortality and maternal mortality, leading to interventions that have saved millions of lives. He has long been a leader in academic public health. He is a member of the National Academies of Sciences and of Medicine, and a recipient of the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award.

This lecture took place on September 16, 2020.

Watch a recording of Dr. Sommer's lecture >