The LIFE B. Braun Lecture is part of a collaborative initiative between the University of Lucerne and B. Braun aimed at fostering dialogue on health, functioning, and wellbeing. Each lecture brings together leading national and international experts to explore innovative, interdisciplinary perspectives on the lived experience of health. The series seeks to bridge research, policy, and practice to understand how individuals and societies can promote and sustain human wellbeing in a changing world.

The LIFE B. Braun Lectures take place twice a year and offer a platform for dialogue on pressing issues in functioning, health and wellbeing.

• The fall lecture, held in German, addresses topics of national and international relevance within the Swiss and European context.
• The spring lecture, held in English, features distinguished international speakers who present cutting-edge research on globally significant themes.
   

Science, Public Health and Democracy

Science and public health are under sustained attack. Mis- and disinformation about health is rampant, amplified by artificial intelligence. Populist governments perpetuate false health information, fueling anti-science beliefs. When truth is debatable and science is undermined, democracy is weakened. We’ve also witnessed withering attacks on free expression, academic institutions, and free and fair elections. Venerable scientific institutions are crumbling under the strain of a populist assault. In this troubling era, it is vital to stand up for science, public health, and democracy itself.

In this lecture, I will explain why the scientific method is misunderstood and why it is a singularly important way to advance human health and democratic values. I will explain why advancing the right to health is necessary for human flourishing and civic virtue. Liberal democracies are moving rapidly toward rigid individual autonomy and national sovereignty. We need to ask ourselves, “What can I do for my family, my neighbors, my community, and my world. A world built on equity, justice, and solidarity based on shared democratic values is a future worth fighting for. Perhaps another way to say all this is we must reject selfishness, indecency and dishonesty, and embrace mutual obligations, compassion, and love for one another.
 

About the Lecturer

Lawrence O. Gostin is Distinguished University Professor at Georgetown University, Faculty Director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, and the Founding O’Neill Chair in Global Health Law. He directs the WHO Center on Global Health Law. He supports WHO and the INB in drafting the Pandemic Treaty and serves on WHO’s Review Committee for amendments to the IHR. 
At the forefront of global health policy and law, Professor Gostin has guided responses to major epidemics, including AIDS, SARS, H1N1, Ebola, MERS, Zika, mpox, and COVID-19. He holds international academic appointments at Oxford University, the University of Witwatersrand, Melbourne University, and Sydney University.
Gostin is an elected lifetime Member of the National Academy of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences, a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Fellow of the Hastings Center. President Obama appointed him to the National Cancer Advisory Board. Commissioned by the White House, Prof Gostin currently chairs the National Academies Committee on Current State of Research, Development, and Stockpiling of Smallpox Medical Countermeasures.
His acclaimed books with Harvard University Press include Global Health Security: A Blueprint for the Future (2021), which won the Association of American Publishers’ PROSE Award, and Global Health Law (2014), translated into several languages.
Internationally, Prof. Gostin received the Key to Tohoko University (Japan) for distinguished service for human rights in mental health. In the United Kingdom, the National Consumer Council bestowed Prof Gostin with the Rosemary Delbridge Memorial Award for the person “who has most influenced Parliament and government to act for the welfare of society.”