Public Health: On The Inside

Mindi Levin, founder and director of SOURCE, the Student Outreach Resource Center, discusses the service-learning program she founded a decade ago. The program, which is open to students from Schools of Medicine and Nursing as well as the School of Public Health, combines traditional volunteering with structured learning. For some, the experience has been a career-changer.

Mindi Levin, founder and director of SOURCE, the Student Outreach Resource Center, discusses the service-learning program she founded a decade ago. The program, which is open to students from Schools of Medicine and Nursing as well as the School of Public Health, combines traditional volunteering with structured learning. For some, the experience has been a career-changer.

A global advocate for HIV prevention, Ruben del Prado, MD, MPH ’88 is a country coordinator for the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS in Nepal and Bhutan. del Prado discusses working on the frontlines of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the importance of taking risks and remaining fearless in the pursuit of advancing public health.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair, Deborah A. P. Hersman, discusses the impact drunk driving has on our nation’s health, and the high cost of injury and deaths attributed to alcohol-impaired related crashes.

Lawrence Wissow, MD, MPH ’84, bridges the gap between clinical medicine and public health as he works to address the mental health needs of children and improves how doctors communicate with their patients.

Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot discusses what it takes to manage a big city health department and her data-driven approach to making Baltimore a healthier place.

Urvashi Rangan, PhD, leads the Consumer Safety and Sustainability Group for Consumer Reports. She is responsible for managing risk analysis, policy assessments, label evaluations and consumer advice for tests, reports, and related advocacy work. Urvashi earned her PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1995. Since 1999, she has worked for Consumer Reports where she developed the ratings system, database, and website Eco-labels.org for evaluating environmental and food labels. In 2005, she managed the launch of GreenerChoices.org, which covers green aspects over a wide range of products and services.

From seasonal influenza to emerging diseases like H7N9 and MERS, respiratory viruses have potential to cause serious illness in humans. Andrew Pekosz studies these viruses in order to prevent and treat them.

Considered one of the founding fathers of disaster mental health, George Everly Jr., PhD, shares his insights into the emotional trauma and resiliency following the Boston Marathon bombings.

A policy expert with a focus on obesity, Sara Bleich, PhD, associate professor with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Management, discusses the science behind the obesity epidemic and tackling the problem in a nation that loves super-sized portions.

A global expert on the epidemiology and prevention of hypertension and cardiovascular and kidney disease, Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, discusses the importance of public health practice and the future of learning in the classroom and online.

A leader in public health service, former Acting Surgeon General Dr. Steven Galson discusses his years of government service and the challenge of serving as the nation's doctor during the 2009 H1N1 "swine" flu outbreak.

A leading expert in bullying and aggressive behaviors in children, Catherine Bradshaw, PhD, MEd, associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Department of Mental Health, discusses her work developing programs and policies to prevent bullying and school violence, as well as the role of the Internet and common misconceptions about this age old problem.

Credited with launching a national conversation and investigation examining the link between community design and associated health risks, Richard Jackson, MD, MPH, professor and chair of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, addresses this link, as well as his struggle to bring this critical issue to the forefront of environmental public health.

A number of mass shootings, including the movie theatre massacre in Aurora, Colorado, have reinvigorated the debate surrounding gun control in America. Gun violence and policy experts, Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH, and Stephen Teret, JD, MPH, address the impact of gun violence in the U.S.

A practicing attorney and longtime public health advocate, Tolbert Nyenswah, Esq., LLB, MPH, is the newly appointed Assistant Minister of Health for Liberia. Nyenswah discusses the social and public health challenges in Liberia and addresses the global burden of diseases.

Credited with bringing scientific rigor to the discussion of injury prevention around traffic accidents, Adnan Hyder, MD, PhD, MPH, director of the International Injury Research Unit at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, discusses his research, the burden of injuries globally and his hopes for the future of injury prevention in public health.

With more than a half century of experience in community health and widely recognized as a leader in his field, Calvert County health officer David Rogers, MD, MPH, began his public health career with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service in 1957.

The former president of the Republic of Ecuador and a leader of political change and economic and social development, Dr. Alfredo Palacio discusses his work, the future of public health and the challenges of maintaining his role as both a physician and politician.

In a Spanish city recognized for its rich culture and history, participants in the Johns Hopkins Fall Institute in Health Policy and Management discuss the public health challenges abroad and their future as public health practitioners.