Pascal Geldsetzer

Pascal Geldsetzer is an assistant professor in the Division of Primary Care and Population Health. Previously, he has served as a study coordinator and postdoctoral research fellow with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Tanzania and Eswatini. 

Geldsetzer completed the Young Professionals Program of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit in Namibia and was a German National Merit Scholar. He earned his MD from the University of Edinburgh and his MPh and PhD from Harvard University. 

King Center Supported Research

2020 - 2021 Academic Year | Junior Faculty Research Grant

Community Health Workers to Achieve Uptake of Low-Sodium Salt: A Proof of Concept Trial in Rural Bangladesh

High blood pressure, which is disproportionately common in low- and middle-income countries, is thought to cause a large proportion of heart attacks and strokes. Low-sodium salt is a highly promising intervention to reduce blood pressure in these settings. This research aims to demonstrate how community health worker programs could be used to achieve uptake of low-sodium salt at the population level. Based in a study site in Bangladesh, the multi-component intervention examines providing basic information about salt consumption, a free sample of low-sodium salt, a voucher for low-sodium salt, or home delivery of low-sodium salt. The primary outcome measures of this study will be systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

2020 - 2021 Academic Year | Capacity Building and Policy Engagement Grant

Assessing Intentions Towards, and Obstacles to, COVID-19 Vaccination Among Adults Living in Lebanon

As the public health community moves closer to implementing effective vaccines to control the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to assess a population’s attitudes towards a potential vaccine, intentions to become vaccinated, and perceived barriers to obtaining the vaccine. This study seeks to assess the perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccine from specific underrepresented Lebanese populations, which may inform public health policies and campaigns and healthcare delivery systems in addressing a population’s concerns regarding equitable distribution and receiving the vaccine. This study uses an innovative survey method developed by the Stanford Immigration Policy Lab that employs the ubiquitous mobile phone messaging application WhatsApp to send automated messages to 12,000 Lebanese participants to lead them through survey questions and record responses efficiently.