This series on "Health Systems and Health in World Cities: Challenges for the Future" is edited by Dr. Michael K. Gusmano from Lehigh University, USA and Dr. Victor G. Rodwin from New York University, USA.

Michael K. Gusmano, PhD
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA USA; Professor of Health Policy, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, Director, Center for Ethics, Lehigh University
Hastings Center, Garrison, NY USA; Research Scholar at The Hastings Center

Dr. Michael Gusmano investigates health care equity in the U.S. and other countries. His research and publications have focused on health policy, aging, and comparative welfare state analysis. He is the co-director of the World Cities Project, the first effort to compare the performance of health, social, and long-term care systems in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, the four largest cities among the wealthy nations of the world. He has authored five books and more than 1500 scholarly articles. He is frequently interviewed by reporters about health policy issues.

He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Maryland at College Park and a master’s degree in public policy from the State University of New York at Albany. He was post-doctoral fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy program at Yale University.

Victor G. Rodwin
Wagner School of Public Service, New York University, New York, NY, USA

Victor G. Rodwin is Professor Emeritus, Health Policy and Management (HPAM), at the Wagner School of Public Service, New York University and Co-Director (with Michael K. Gusmano) of the World Cities Project, a joint venture of Wagner/NYU, Lehigh University and the Hastings Center. Rodwin teaches Wagner’s introductory course on HPAM and classes on comparative analysis of health systems and healthcare reform. Rodwin is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Health Planning Predicament: France, Quebec, England, and the United States (University of California Press, 1984); The End of an Illusion: The Future of Health Policy in Western Industrialized Nations (with J. de Kervasdoué and J. Kimberly, University of California Press, 1984); Public Hospitals in New York and Paris (with C. Brecher, D. Jolly, and R. Baxter), New York University Press, 1992); Japan's Universal and Affordable Health Care: Lessons for the U.S.? (Japan Society, 1994); Growing Older in World Cities: New York, London, Paris and Tokyo (edited with M. Gusmano), Vanderbilt University Press 2006; Universal Health Insurance in France: How Sustainable? Essays on the French Health Care System (Washington DC, Embassy of France, 2006); Health Care in World Cities: New York, London and Paris (with M. Gusmano and D. Weisz), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010; and À La Santé de l'Oncle Sam: Regards croisés sur les systèmes de santé Américains et Français (with D. Tabuteau), 2010.

Professor Rodwin’s most recent work (in collaboration with Michael K. Gusmano and Daniel Weisz) has focused on health care system performance in world cities, as measured by amenable mortality, hospitalizations for ambulatory-care sensitive conditions and rehospitalizations. He is currently studying the Swiss health system following a sabbatical leave at Unisanté in Lausanne, and how world cities have responded to the coronavirus and how the pandemic is likely to change them.

World cities contribute massively to their national economies and economic growth. They serve as transportation gateways to the rest of the world, bastions of cultural expression and media, and centers for corporate headquarters with their affiliated financial and specialized legal services. In many respects, world cities share more in common with one another than with their respective nation states, which is why they are a promising topic for comparative analysis. They have been studied along many dimensions; yet there are few studies of world city healthcare systems and the challenges they face. We propose to edit a Special Series of the JHMPH on Hong Kong, London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Shanghai. Other subsequent issues of the JHMHP will include articles on other global cities, worldwide, as part of the series.

Series outline:

1. London: Evolution of Care-Giving 
2. New York: Climate Change Exposure and Vulnerability
3. Paris: Implications of Population Aging for the Healthcare System 
4. Hong Kong: Implications of Population Aging for the Healthcare System 
5. Shanghai: The Future of Hospital Organization 
6. New York: Challenges for the future of the Healthcare System 
7. Mexico City: Regulation of Soda and ultra-processed Food 
8. Paris: Medical and Managerial Elites and the Healthcare System 
9. Tokyo: Implications of Population Aging for the Healthcare system 
10. Paris: Health Inequalities 
11. London: Implications of population aging for the healthcare system 
12. London: The healthcare system 
13. London: Governance of the healthcare system and public health 
14. Paris: Hospital Organization and Challenges for the Future

Disclosure:
The series "Health Systems in World Cities: Challenges for the Future" is commissioned by the editorial office, Journal of Hospital Management and Health Policy without any sponsorship or funding. Prof. Michael K. Gusmano and Prof. Victor G. Rodwin are serving as the unpaid Guest Editors for the series.