This session of the “We Champion” Speaker Series features Dr. Patricia Mechael and her son Gabriel, authors of the new middle grade fiction novel, The Antidotes: Pollution Solution.
Dr. Patty Mechael is a mom, writer, and public health specialist; who combines her passions for public health, women’s rights, technology, science, and the world to inspire children and adults through her writing. Drawing on her career in global digital health, Patty’s works wrestle with the toughest public health and societal issues of our time, including the environment, responsible technology and AI, pandemic preparedness and mental health. Her writing also draws on her more than 20 years of work across more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Gabriel Sabry Schaefer is Patty’s 10-year-old son and writing collaborator. He was born and raised in Washington, DC. At school, he loves recess, science, social studies, art, and playing soccer with his friends. On the weekends, he enjoys swimming, biking, climbing, sleepovers, drawing comics, and adding dramatic flair to whatever he does. He is very proud of his maternal Egyptian immigrant heritage and his paternal ancestors who came to America on the Mayflower. For this writing collaboration, Gabriel helped to create the characters, provided many of the ideas for the story, and guided the editing process. At the start of the Covid-19 global pandemic, Patty and Gabriel talked about how the pandemic might have been different if children were more actively engaged. Patty and Gabriel created the story, The Antidotes, on long walks with their pandemic puppy, Mahfouz, a Westie named after the Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz.
Patty is recognized as pioneer in the use of mobile and other technologies for health and acknowledged for her roles as a thought leader, writer, researcher, professor and executive. Patty is co-founder and executive director at HealthEnabled and has served as executive director of the mHealth Alliance and executive vice president of the Personal Connected Health Alliance. In addition, she is the co-editor of mHealth in Practice: Mobile technology for health promotion in the developing world published by Bloomsbury, an editorial board member of the Journal of Medical Internet Research, and a regular contributing author to AIMed’s quarterly journal. Patty has penned more than 100 publications on various aspects of public health and technology in scientific and health journals.
Patty’s accolades include the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Resident Fellowship, the British Council UK Education Social Impact Award, and the Johns Hopkins University Knowledge for the World Distinguished Alumnus Award. Patty holds a PhD in Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Master in Health Science in International Health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
Building on Mission 4.7’s #WeChampion social media campaign, the “We Champion” speaker series will showcase best practices and innovative approaches to Transformative Education from across the Mission 4.7 community and beyond. The series will help further collective thinking around SDG 4 .7 implementation and gather momentum on various thematic areas pertaining to SDG 4.7.