Dr. Judith Lasker is Professor Emerita of Sociology and Health Medicine and Society at Lehigh University in Bethlehem PA, USA and author of Hoping to Help; The Promises and Pitfalls of Global Health Volunteering (Cornell U. Press, 2016). Her book and several related articles examine the impact on host communities and on volunteers of short-term international programs and offer research-based recommendations for making programs more effective. Dr. Lasker has spoken about her research to audiences around the U.S. and in several other countries. She co-founded Advocacy for Global Health Partnerships, a coalition of stakeholders that has issued the Brocher Declaration on ethical principles guiding short-term global health partnerships.
Lasker’s previous books addressed pregnancy loss, infertility, and time banking. She earned her B.A. at Brandeis and her MA and Ph.D. at Harvard. In 2014, Judith was awarded the Centennial Medal by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard for “contributions to society as they have emerged from one’s graduate education at Harvard.”