Research & Service

Faculty members at the Mailman School of Public Health have authored three important articles appearing in the January 2010 issues of American Journal of Public Health and Public Health Reports.  These publications represent a substantive body of work and, together, they frame and address key issues concerning how the history and roles of public health inform future directions. 

These articles feature work from experts in the School’s Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health.  The Center is a unique collaboration of historians and those involved in the examination of the ethics of public health, and it is the only program in history and ethics within an accredited school of public health.

Schools of Public Health: Essential Infrastructure of a Responsible Society and a 21st-Century Health System

In this Viewpoint piece published in the current January-February issue of Public Health Reports (PHR), authors James Colgrove, PhD, MPH;  Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH;  Mary E. Northridge, PhD, MPH; and David Rosner, MPH, PhD, remind us that supporting the country’s social and economic viability, through critical infrastructure including public transportation, roads, bridges, dams, etc. is not the only means to strengthen our societal systems. In fact, schools of public health (SPHs) are also essential to our country’s health, security, and well-being. Not only do SPHs collectively create the knowledge needed to prevent disease and disability and translate that knowledge into approaches that protect the health of all of us, they also educate the public health leaders of the future.

Traditions, Transitions, and Transfats: New Directions for Public Health

When President Obama appointed Dr. Thomas Frieden as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the President identified the qualities that made Dr. Frieden stand out. Dr. Frieden, a Mailman School of Public Health graduate who previously served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is a leader at the forefront of the fight against heart disease, cancer, obesity and infectious disease.  

In a Commentary in this month’s issue of PHR, co-authors Drs. David Rosner and Linda Fried note that these qualities capture the transitions that mark public health today, underscore the direction that public health will take in the Obama administration, and highlight the critical concerns for the 21st century.  Drs. Rosner and Fried further state that while H1N1, bioterrorism, and epidemic infectious diseases will continue to be important to public health, the issues that will gain increasing prominence are those linked to major chronic conditions resulting from environmental and behavioral risks, and the chronic diseases of an aging society.

The Exodus of Public Health, What History Can Tell Us About the Future

In the January 2010 issue of American Journal of Public Health,  article authors Amy L. Fairchild, PhD, MPH, David Rosner, PhD, James Colgrove, PhD, MPH, Ronald Bayer, PhD, and Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH trace the mission of the shifting American public health profession as one of social reform and authority on housing, sanitation, and labor reform efforts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to a science-based endeavor. 

However, with the current economic situation affecting the health and well-being of millions of people around the world, public health is positioned to retake its place as part of an emerging reform movement. With the future presenting many new challenges, from global warming and industrial pollution to bioterrorism and universal health care, the authors point out that public health must go “back to the future” and find ways to “lend its science and knowledge for progressive social change.”