When COVID-19 first began to spread across the U.S., Fielding School MPH student Tram-Elayne Nguyen worried about her parents, first-generation immigrants from Vietnam. “They were getting a lot of confusing information about what they should do and whether or not the pandemic was serious,” Nguyen recalls. “I could see that there was no clear, digestible, unbiased information for members of the Vietnamese community.”

Long overlooked and underfunded, public health moved into the spotlight last year, as COVID-19 demanded expertise and solutions while underscoring the importance of investing in infrastructure to prepare for future outbreaks. But while COVID-19 captured much of the focus, other problems festered.

HOW HAVE MORE THAN 66,000 HOMELESS people in Los Angeles fared during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic?

AS THE FOG BEGINS TO LIFT on the most deadly pandemic in more than a century, we in public health are left to confront the reality that at home and abroad, communities face unprecedented challenges to their health and well-being — challenges that transcend a pandemic that has taken millions of lives while inflicting devastating physical and mental health impacts.

XHANA THOMPSON SAYS SHE KNEW LITTLE ABOUT PUBLIC HEALTH when one of her professors at Tougaloo College informed her of an opportunity to participate in a new summer program offered by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in partnership with Tougaloo, a historically Black liberal arts institution in Jackson, Mississippi.

THE DIRECT CONSEQUENCES OF SARS-COV-2 HAVE BEEN ENORMOUS, with severe illnesses and approximately 1 million deaths in the U.S. among the nation’s more than 80 million reported COVID-19 cases. The danger posed by community spread of the virus resulted in both government- and self-imposed restrictions on people’s activities, particularly early in the pandemic.

FOR DECADES, DR. BILL MCCARTHY HAS CONDUCTED RESEARCH ON LIFESTYLE BEHAVIORS, such as how smoking and eating junk food affect health. This work was frustrating, however, because the health consequences of his research are typically not seen for years.