Celebrating what it means to be a community

I have two favorite events each academic year: our welcome reception for new students, and the pomp & circumstance of Commencement. I love both of them because they are a chance to celebrate what it means to be a community.

And as I prepare to walk our Class of ‘26 across the stage at Woolsey Hall, I can’t help but think about how the members of this class are extraordinary in many ways — in no small part because of the ways in which they’ve engaged with our strategic priority of “fostering community.”

What distinguishes the public health leaders we are graduating this year is not only their academic rigor and disciplinary expertise — it is their instinct to lean in. This year's class has proven the thesis that trust is built through presence, that solutions are stronger when they are co-created, and that relationships are the work. They’ve shown that strength and resilience come from partnership, not isolation. They’ve challenged themselves to step up, to teach each other, and to work with unlikely bedfellows. In a moment when trust in public health and higher education is being tested, this orientation is not just admirable. It is essential.

You’ll see in this magazine many practical examples of what that type of community-centered work means for public health. Our story on the work YSPH has done in New Haven’s Dwight neighborhood is about transformation at the systems level, ultimately making it more possible for kids to play — a core part of a healthy community! Another story highlights the brilliant “VERENA” data initiative, which intentionally builds a community of academic and citizen scientists committed to tracking future viruses. A YSPH-MAHA Ohio collaboration brings together scientific expertise with community leadership in a partnership that has resonated with the public. An essay by our director of academic affairs explores how we are ensuring that our YSPH classrooms, themselves, can serve as a form of community. Peppy Buadoo, MPH ’26, shares how she’s come to see that the language we use can be a form of care. And a story about recent donors highlights how our community perpetuates—enabling us to offer scholarships and research support to future generations.

You’ll also see how we are fostering community across Yale. We’ve long had a strong relationship with Yale College, through our five-year BA-BS/MPH program; we are equally proud to introduce innumerable other undergraduates to the field through our labs and courses —including both a YC ‘26 Rhodes Scholar and Marshall Scholar! This issue also celebrates our partnership with our fellow professional schools at Yale. Check out the photo essay, that shows in living color how we’ve worked with the School of Architecture to build on both the university’s robust traditions and a fabulous vision for the future in designing our new YSPH mace.

Here at YSPH, we know that community can be a buzzword — but to us, the word means something much deeper than that. It means listening before doing, staying present even when the work is difficult, insisting on rigor as well as humanism, and, most of all, recognizing that the people most affected by a public health challenge are also its most essential partners.

So, to our students, families, alumni, and friends: thank you for being a steadfast part of our community, and for working together to prove the real meaning of the word. To our new graduates: welcome to the alumni community!

I look forward to the work, together, that is yet to come.

Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPH
Dean, Yale School of Public Health
C.-E. A. Winslow Professor of Public Health
Professor of Emergency Medicine