Weekly news from the School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis
Dear colleagues,
Good morning.
In the past week, I have been reflecting quite a bit about fear. An array of executive orders and actions by the new administration in Washington has been bewildering at best and, in many ways, terrifying. Real people have been caught up in these actions in ways that affect their lives. This is both global, as longstanding USAID-funded programs have been shut down, and domestic, as many lose their jobs through government elimination of federal jobs. That the latter has been concentrated in areas close to us in health — in the Department of Health and Human Services and affecting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health — has brought this all closer to home. Recent challenges to funding for federal grants, which I discussed in a prior note, further adds a layer of proximal threat to the current goings-on.
I continue to think that a new administration is elected to change the ways of its predecessors, and, as such, it is on us to keep an open mind and take the administration at its word that it intends to improve the country. I offered in the past two weeks a reflection in The Healthiest Goldfish on how, for example, we may wish to take seriously the administration’s stated intent to “Make America Healthy Again,” and to engage in partnership about how that can be done. However, a retributive and mean-spirited approach to the changes being wrought has had a chilling effect on the public conversation and limited the honest engagement of those who may disagree with some elements of the unfolding changes, even as we wish, with good intentions, to engage in a shared project to improve the country for all.
We are seeing this play out in the fear that has gripped us in our sector. In previous reflections on fear in the context of a pandemic, I asked, “Has our response to the moment been overly controlled by fear? What is the right proportion of response to risk?” I think those questions are valid today, in this different context. In a recent essay in JAMA, the authors noted the anticipatory compliance that is emerging inscience, changing our language and what we do out of fear that we may run afoul of authority. I have no difficulty with the pragmatic need to mold and evolve in order to get what we need to get done, done. And yet we have to believe that this moment too shall pass, and through it we will want to emerge with the integrity of our ideas and positioned to continue doing good beyond a challenging moment. Universities are, together with religious orders, the oldest institutions in the world. We exist to generate ideas, to teach the next generation, and to translate our ideas to the end of creating a healthier world. And we shall continue to do just that, long after this administration has passed into history. It is therefore critical that, yes, we acknowledge the honest fear that grips many of us in the moment, but also that we “be alert to its influence, so that it does not govern our actions at the expense of the measures necessary to support health. It is OK to be afraid. It is wise to balance risks and trade-offs. It is not OK to let fear completely make decisions for us.” I found myself reflecting on that today, four years after I initially wrote that, and the same sentiment applies in the moment.
The past week
The past week we had our latest Thinking Public Health discussion, centering on public health in these divided political times. It was, as these discussions are all shaping up to be, a most interesting conversation. Thank you to everyone who attended. Our next discussion will be on March 27. As with all of these events, pre-reads will be available on our website soon.
We had a Talking Public Health seminar last week. Thank you to Stephanie L. Mazzucca-Ragan, PhD, for being here. Talking Public Health presentations are archived here.
Joining the School of Public Health
Allison Deterding recently joined us as the Faculty Recruitment Coordinator in the Office of Faculty Affairs. Allison has several years of recruitment experience with TEKsystems. She will play a crucial role in supporting faculty recruitment efforts for the school, including supporting the school’s Faculty Recruitment Committee operations, candidate recruitment activities and onboarding for new faculty.
The coming week
We welcome Zachary Butzin-Dozier, PhD, MPH, for our Talking Public Healthseminar this week, at noon, Thursday, Feb. 27. An epidemiologist in the Division of Biostatistics at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, he will speak on “Evaluating Long COVID through Targeted Machine Learning.” The talk will be in 333A Goldfarb Hall on the Danforth Campus. RSVP here to attend in person or via Zoom.
Also, I draw everyone’s attention to this week’s Environmental Research and Creativity Week, with a range of activities, highlighted here.
Public Health Ideas
A video of my conversation with Sarah Moreland-Russell, PhD, associate professor of practice at the Brown School, is here. We discussed a paper she co-authored, “Action planning for building public health program sustainability: results from a group-randomized trial.” See here to read the paper.
Also this week
If interested, in JAMA and JAMA Health Forum, a commentary on “The value of academic health research,” in response to the challenges to such research in the moment. Also in JAMA, a commentary on “Reaffirming the JAMA Network’s commitment to the health of patients and to the public.”
In The Healthiest Goldfish, what it would take to make America healthy again, part 2 of 2.
Here is to a fine week, for all.
Warmly,
Sandro
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
Margaret C. Ryan Dean of the School of Public Health
Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health
Washington University in St. Louis
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