AS AN EXPERT IN DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE whose work has increasingly focused on the weather events that are occurring with growing intensity and frequency as the climate changes, Dr. David Eisenman has observed that one type of natural disaster is often overlooked.
CLIMATE CHANGE is already jeopardizing health and well-being in the U.S. and abroad, and is projected to become a greater public health threat in the decades to come. The World Health Organization has outlined some of the key ways in which climate change affects health. As the examples in this issue demonstrate, Fielding School faculty, students and alumni are leading efforts to protect populations against this developing crisis.
As he neared retirement after more than three decades on the UCLA Fielding School faculty, Dr. Gerald Kominski knew what he wanted to leave as part of his legacy.
“Many had lived with fistula for years and had no idea it was a preventable or treatable condition.”
— Lindsey Pollaczek
MORE THAN 1 MILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS in low-income countries live with a condition that makes many of them outcasts in their communities and hinders them from earning a living. The condition is not only preventable but also highly treatable through surgery.
AS A HOSPITAL NURSE AT THE OUTSET OF HER CAREER, Mary Hansell (MPH ’83, DrPH ’89) was quickly drawn to the obstetrics unit. “It was exciting to me to work with people as they prepared to become parents, feeling like I could make a difference in supporting them,” she says. That was when Hansell also began to appreciate the importance of prevention and addressing societal factors to ensure planned pregnancies, appropriate prenatal care, healthy births and positive life trajectories for parents and children.
At WHO we don’t look at human rights, equity or gender in isolation, but rather through an integrated framework.”
— Dr. Veronica Magar
Dr. Veronica Magar (MPH '91)
WHAT IF WE HAD THE CAPACITY to respond to emerging infectious diseases immediately in one of the most critical disease hotspots in the world? How many pandemics might be prevented? How many millions of lives might be saved?
Kathryn Atchison recently led a team that prepared a 2017 report for the Roundtable on Health Literacy within the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The title of the report is “Integrating Oral Health, Primary Care and Health Literacy: Considerations for Health Professional Practice, Education and Policy.”
“I believe in the pursuit of truth by whatever means are available to know the truth. I believe in the dignity of all persons. I believe in social justice. I believe in human rights everywhere and for everyone. I believe in a democratic society.”
— Dr. Raymond Goodman
DR. RAYMOND D. GOODMAN (MPH ’72), a renowned public health physician dedicated to advancing population health and a Fielding School champion through his philanthropy and leadership, passed away at the age of 97 on February 19.