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Yale Public Health Magazine

Public health’s biggest names visit New Haven

Mic drop moments from our Leaders in Public Health speaker series

Science & Society: May 2026
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The Leaders in Public Health speaker series brings the field’s most influential thinkers into conversation with the next generation of public health leaders — on science, policy, data, trust, and everything in between. The result is more than a lecture series: it's community building, one speaker at a time. Several of the speakers are members of the YSPH community, returning as distinguished alumni.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the thought leaders and boundary-pushers who have recently joined us “in community:”

Mr. Chris Klomp, MBA

Chief Counselor at Health and Human Services, and Deputy Administrator and Director of Medicare at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services


“If there's one issue that shouldn't be partisan in our country… it is health.”


April 9, 2026

Dr. Mike Varshavski, DO

Board-certified family medicine physician and a content creator with over 30 million followers


“I’m here to motivate more of you to do what I do and do it better.”


February 10, 2026

Dr. Mary-Ann Etiebet, MD '03, MBA '03, BA '96

President and CEO of Vital Strategies


“A rising tide lifts all boats — if you have a boat.”


January 22, 2026

Dr. Garth Graham, MD, MPH '01

Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health at Google Health/YouTube


“Around the world, most people start their health journey online.”


December 4, 2025

Dr. Moupali Das, MD, MPH

Vice President for Clinical Development, HIV Prevention, and Virology Pediatrics and Head of HIV Prevention at Gilead Sciences


We need “good data and better stories.”


November 6, 2025

Dr. Peggy Hamburg, MD

Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner


“We have to hold on to hope and the belief that we can make a difference.”


October 1, 2025

Alexander Urry, MPH ’19

Senior Policy Advisor to U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries


The policy process is “about people, at the end of the day. It's about our families, about our friends.”


September 11, 2025

Dr. Roman Macaya, PhD, MBA

Former President of Costa Rica’s Public Health Care System and Costa Rica’s Former Ambassador to the U.S.


“Well, I'm a scientist, and I'm now in diplomacy. I think I'll promote science diplomacy.”


April 7, 2025

Dr. J. Stephen Morrison, PhD, BA '77

Senior Vice President at the Center for Strategic & International Studies


“It was a feeling like our foreign policy was opening a new dimension.”


February 5, 2025

Dr. Jerome Adams, MD, MPH

20th Surgeon General of the United States


“People need to know that you care before they care what you know.”


January 19, 2025

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Author

Kayla Steinberg
Associate Director of Multimedia & Creative Communications, YSPH
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Issue Contents

Features
The Future of Public Health is in Community
Cooling Dwight
Two YSPH-trained Yale students. One Marshall Scholarship. One Rhodes Scholar.
A Century Later
Eating well, on purpose
Reimagining classrooms as communities of learning
The Work That Matters
Public Health Day
Dean’s Message
Celebrating what it means to be a community
School Notes
Science & Storytelling
Students “foster community,” and more school news
Public health’s biggest names visit New Haven
Science & Symbol
Advances
Advances
Students
A sense of purpose

Leaders in Public Health

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