Inaugural Point of View Series | On the Global Stage: What It Really Takes to Practice

Point of View is a new conversation series from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Office of Public Health Practice that centers the lived experience of public health practitioners — not just the work they do, but the reality of doing it.

Public health is under pressure. Institutions are strained. Resources are shrinking. Trust is contested. And still, practitioners show up — protecting communities, sustaining programs, and advancing equitable systems of care.

At a time when the field is being tested, Point of View creates space to hear directly from those holding it together.

Each session centers a practitioner’s perspective. From CEOs to community health workers these conversations move beyond titles and impact statements to explore what it actually takes to practice public health today locally and across the world. 

• What does the day-to-day look like? 
• How do practitioners navigate bureaucracy, burnout, and moral complexity? 
• What sustains their commitment to the work?

This is not a traditional speaker series. It is a space for candor and insight — where we hear unfiltered perspectives and confront a simple truth: public health is not abstract. It is practiced, every day, from a point of view.

We are grateful to welcome Mr. Han Kang, Chief Intergovernmental Relations Officer for the City of San José and former USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health, and Professor James Macinko, Associate Dean for Research, as our inaugural guest speakers.