What our country must do to maintain global economic leadership is the challenge to be addressed at the Bosworth Lecture Series on Friday, May 12, at 7 p.m. at the VFW Post #237 (850 Hope St.). The event is open to the public.

Local resident and global advisor Ira Magaziner will step back and take a close look at how we have achieved the position of the world’s leading economy by developing and commercializing new technologies such as the internet and medical high tech.

The first includes integrated circuits, network computing, optical fiber and the internet. The second comprises the sequencing of the human genome, medical robotics and cell and gene therapies that have revolutionized medical care.

“I will briefly describe the recent internet and medical technology revolutions and what lessons we can learn,” Magaziner said, “Then I will talk about the future climate and biodiversity technologies and industries and what the US private sector and government must do to continue our economic leadership.

“The U.S. economy remains the world’s leader because it led in developing and commercializing these technologies through private and public action,” he said. “In the next 20 years, the development of technologies to address impending climate and biodiversity crises will be the largest drivers of economic growth.”

A Brown University graduate and Oxford Rhode Scholar, Magaziner left his mark here early in reshaping the Brown curriculum to where students can design their own course of study, and in his Greenhouse Compact, an ambitious statewide economic revitalization proposal.

In 2002 he co-founded the Clinton Health Access Initiative with former U.S. President William J. Clinton and served as its CEO for 20 years. Under his leadership, CHAI grew and now employs over 2,000 people in 39 countries in Africa, Asia, and Central America and has an annual budget of over $250 million.

Working with government partners, CHAI has treated over 25 million people living with AIDS, helped eliminate malaria in many regions of the world, reduced maternal and infant mortality, accelerated the global deployment of life-saving vaccines, educated doctors, nurses, midwives and community health workers and strengthened health systems.

Magaziner also worked at the request of the Director General of the WHO to help coordinate the Global response to COVID 19 in developing countries. He also co-founded the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) and partnered with the largest cities in the world to introduce new energy savings and clean technologies.

From 1993 through 1998, Magaziner served as Senior Advisor to President Clinton for Policy Development at the White House, supervising implementation of the Administration’s policy for commercialization of the Internet.

Magaziner also worked with President Clinton and then First Lady Hillary Clinton in an unsuccessful effort to reform the U.S. health system. Many of their proposals were later incorporated into the successful effort of President Obama.

Magaziner has been a corporate strategy consultant to CEOs in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia with the Boston Consulting Group, and with two groups he founded — Telesis, and SJS. He has also assisted governments in Sweden, The UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia in developing national industrial policies.

Most recently he has advised Intuitive Surgical Corporation, one of the most successful medical technology companies of this century on the scale-up of its pioneering technology, Da Vinci surgical robotics.

Magaziner is currently carrying out consulting projects for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Susan T. Buffett Foundation, Elma Philanthropies, MEDACCESS and other foundations.

Since 1981 Mr. Magaziner and his wife Suzanne have lived in Bristol, where they raised their three children, Seth, Jonathan, and Sarah.

The Roswell S. Bosworth Jr. Lecture Series is presented by the Men's Club, a local organization that pays tribute to its founding member, former editor and publisher of the East Bay Newspapers, with lectures of interest to the public.