Anniversaries are a time for looking back and celebrating achievements, and for taking stock and planning what comes next. As the Yale School of Public Health marks its first full year as an independent school, I’m doing some of both.
I’m immensely proud of so many things — our development of our bold new vision and strategic plan; our launch of our new data science and data equity initiative under the leadership of Dr. Bhramar Mukherjee; multiple outstanding conferences and convenings led by our faculty; and our graduation of a phenomenal group of MPH, MS, and PhD students in May, amongst many other successes.
I also am looking at a public health landscape undergoing immense disruption. Our cover story delves into how support from the National Institutes of Health brings benefits to many populations and communities. Such science funding is under threat, along with other pillars of public health such as HIV prevention policies and programs, smoking cessation services, and the ability to ensure safety of our food and water supply. I encourage you to share your stories about the impact of research as well. Our communities need to hear how what we do helps improve their own wellbeing.
Another linchpin of public health is good data. Some data we use to make health decisions is being taken offline, and the data that is still presented feels increasingly untrustworthy to people from all walks of life. Yale’s newly launched Population Health Information and Visualization Exchange (PopHIVE), led by Dr. Anne Zink, MD, Lecturer and Senior Fellow, and Dr. Daniel Weinberger, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology, hopes to fill this gap by democratizing access to, and understanding of, multiple near-real-time sources of data on America’s health. This exciting initiative helps correct longstanding problems with our nation's public health data infrastructure and is already having an impact for state and local health officials and care providers.
Podcast host Brinda Adhikari invited YSPH Lecturer Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, MPH, and me to engage in a conversation with some members of the MAHA (Make American Healthy Again) movement. The MAHA movement harbors deep skepticism and suspicion of the U.S.’s public health apparatus. It is never easy to talk with people who distrust you. But in doing so I have found we share something: a deep desire to make sure the people we love can live healthy lives, with access to the resources they need. I don’t know where these conversations will lead, any more than I can predict what our public health system will look like at this time next year. I can say with confidence that if we can continue to engage in dialogue, it will help us rebuild trust in public health. That will be worth celebrating at future anniversaries.
Thank you to all of you, as always, for your support, your creativity, and your work on behalf of the public's health. What you do, matters.