This time of year, my phone serves me photo memories of my teenagers’ younger back-to-school days. The pictures make me nostalgic for days when life felt simpler. But I’m also proud of my kids’ resilience, their burgeoning independence, and the impact they’re starting to have in the world.
I feel a bit of those same emotions as YSPH enters our second year of independence. I’m wistful for what was, in many ways, an easier and more predictable time for public health, for science, and for higher education. But I’m also quite proud to see us at YSPH immersed in work that exemplifies both resilience and the Yale spirit.
Some aspects of our work are recurrent: this is now my third year of YSPH orientation, and what an optimistic event it always is! Other aspects are transformative—and that’s been truer this year than most.
As I discussed in our State of the School address on September 3, this has been an extraordinary year in every way. We launched and have already made great progress on our ambitious strategic plan. We received record contributions to our Alumni Fund, which we use exclusively to support financial aid for our amazing student body. We welcomed students from 19 countries across the globe. We have pivoted our scholarship, communication, and funding in the face of dramatic shifts in federal policies and support.
And, as you will see in this issue of Science & Society, we are actively redefining what public health questions YSPH works on, how it approaches them, and with whom.
You will read about a groundbreaking project from YSPH’s Chima Ndumele and Jacob Wallace, who have embedded researchers into Connecticut state agencies, and the ongoing effort by Shelley Geballe to have students serve as aides to policymakers, now in its 12th year. You’ll hear about Kaakpema Yelpaala’s new experiential learning course, built around real-world case studies. We also highlight two of our Health Equity Fellows, one of whom crafted a Food as Medicine initiative, the other of whom completed a qualitative study on ways to improve health outcomes for the unhoused.
The challenges of 2025 are in many ways similar to those faced by C-E. A. Winslow in 1915: an emboldened skepticism of science, burgeoning populism rooted in structural frustrations, and a reshaping of our systems of information sharing and of economic growth. But, like Winslow was, we are nimble, committed, and creative.
We are honoring the best of our history and our values, while also creating resilient and transformative pathways to the future.
So please join me in both my pride at the ways that all of us at YSPH—including all of you, our readers and alumni and supporters—are “linking science and society,” and in my commitment to watching us continue to grow.