Jimmy Kolker, a retired ambassador, will discuss the importance of data in public health policy decisions during a virtual forum presented by The College of St. Scholastica on Nov. 19. 

The presentation will be hosted by LaTour Eichenwald Forum on HIIM Leadership and Innovation, the College of St. Scholastica reported on its website. 

Kolker was the ambassador to Burkina Faso from 1999 to 2002 and Uganda from 2002 to 2005 before taking a role as chief with the HIV/AIDS Section of UNICEF in New York. In addition he served and also was the assistant secretary for Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

His topic will be “How Diplomats and Policy Creators use (or fail to use) data and evidence when making decisions and public health interventions.”

Registration can be completed at css.edu/leforum.

The event will be held on Nov. 19 at 4:30 p.m.

The LaTour Eichenwald Forum on Health Informatics and Information Management Leadership and Innovation plans to honor two of its most highly regarded professionals, Kathleen LaTour and the late Shirley Eichenwald Maki, the website reported.

Both women retired from St. Scholastica in 2012. During their time at the college they helped develop leadership in education, the college reported. 

As a college, St. Scholastica has been a leader in Health Informatics and Information Management since founding Health Information Management in 1935 – the first program of its kind in the nation. 

Additionally, the college was the first to grant a bachelor’s and master’s degree in the Health Information Management with “thought leaders” in their faculty who have been instrumental in authoring both scholarships and textbooks in the area. 

The College of St. Scholastica itself is a 109-year-old private and independent college which was founded within the Benedictine tradition. Located in Minnesota, it has been included in the U.S. News & World Report as a Best National Universities and Top Performers on Social Mobility school.