Hosted by the Department of Epidemiology
"The Public Health Approach in Troubled Times"
Presented by Alfredo Morabia, MD, PhD
Professor of Epidemiology; Barry Commoner Center; Queens College/CUNY
Public health is a collective response to collective threats. It works best when it can reach and protect all members of a population. Experience shows that the public health approach rests on four principles: fairness, democracy, inclusiveness, and science.
Fairness matters because public health imposed without ethical safeguards can cause harm, as illustrated by the Tuskegee syphilis study and the history of eugenics. Democracy matters because even scientifically sound interventions can fail when they lack public legitimacy, as in the failed soda cup size regulation in New York City. Inclusiveness is essential because exclusion undermines collective protection, a pattern visible in unequal COVID-19 vaccination across political groups in the United States. Finally, public health must be science-based: misattributing cholera to air rather than water delayed prevention for decades.
During COVID-19, U.S. public health made real progress on these fronts. Yet recent institutional disruptions have fueled distrust, calling for renewed reflection on how to defend and strengthen the public health approach.
This event is open to the NYU Community (current students, faculty, and staff). The general public will only be allowed to participate virtually.