Currie to Deliver Second Annual Pong S. Lee Memorial Lecture
ALBANY, N.Y. (Sept. 3, 2024) — Janet Currie, the Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University, will deliver the second annual Pong S. Lee Memorial Lecture on Friday, Sept. 6. The lecture will be held in the Standish Living Room of the Massry School of Business at 4 p.m.
Currie, a world-renowned health economist who currently serves as president of the American Economic Association (AEA), is a pioneer in the economic analysis of child development.
Her current research focuses on socioeconomic differences in health and access to healthcare, environmental threats to health, the important role of mental health, and the long-run impact of health problems in pregnancy and early childhood. Currie is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and of the American Academy of Art and Sciences.
“We are honored to have Professor Janet Currie visit our campus and deliver the second Pong S. Lee Memorial Lecture,” said Professor and Chair of Economics Laurence Kranich. “As president of the American Economic Association, she is a leader in the field of economics, and someone whose research has influenced public policies at the state and federal level. Prof. Currie is the ideal speaker to commemorate the contributions of Professor Lee in founding our department.”
“The hallmark of Prof. Currie’s research is she uses state-of-the-art economic methods to address one of society’s most important challenges. This challenge is: How can we develop public policies that foster healthy development among children, particularly disadvantaged children, and help them reach their potential? Her research has had profound influence on the field of health economics,” said Pinka Chatterji, professor of Economics at UAlbany, who is organizing this year’s Pong S. Lee Memorial Lecture. “Her recent work on child mental health addresses one of the most pressing issues society faces right now — the adverse impact of the pandemic on children’s mental wellbeing. We are grateful for her visit to UAlbany and eager to hear her discuss these important issues.”
“I am honored to be giving this lecture recognizing the contributions of Dr. Pong Lee, and I am looking forward to feedback from faculty, students, and the general public regarding the new research I am presenting about approaches to improving child mental health,” said Currie.
The Pong S. Lee Memorial Lecture series was established in honor of the remarkable contributions of Professor of Economics Pong S. Lee (1928-2009). The Pong S. Lee Endowment was established through a generous gift from Seung Park, PhD ’74 to the Department of Economics to invite distinguished speakers to the University to address a broad range of economic issues.
Born in Korea in 1928, Lee came to the United States to attend Simpson College in Iowa. He went on to receive his PhD from Yale University in 1965, before beginning his career with UAlbany’s Department of Economics. During his tenure as the department chair in the 1970s, Lee played a pivotal role in shaping the department and establishing the University’s PhD in Economics program.
David Autor, a Ford Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, delivered the first lecture in 2023.