Let’s face it: we all want to be present where and when something good happens -- “in the right place, at the right time.” In fact, “place” is the common thread that runs through both National Public Health Week (theme: “Public Health is Where You Are”) and National Minority Health Month (theme: Give Your Community a Boost!).
As public health professionals, we know that “place” -- where you live, work, and play -- can have a profound impact on your health. In fact, the scientific literature says your zip code is a better predictor of health outcomes than your genetic code!
It can also be said that times have changed. In response to an upswell of social activism that began in the summer of 2020, systemic and institutional racism have come to be widely acknowledged as a public health crisis. To facilitate candid conversations in the public arena, we need empirical information in support of policy actions that can have a lasting impact.
So there’s no better time than this week, and no better place than here at NYU GPH, to launch the Center for Anti-racism, Social Justice & Public Health. CASJPH is part of a collaboration of anti-racism centers in schools of public health that include Drexel University, UCLA, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Washington.
By using data-driven, solutions-oriented research, our new center will offer tools and strategies for combating pervasive racism, undertaking a sweeping, multifaceted effort to build a science base that examines how racial inequities in education, healthcare, criminal justice, social services and other areas can negatively impact health. We’ll use innovative techniques to leverage the power of data, supporting collaborative action and concrete policy changes.
For instance, in public health we’re taught to look upstream to address the root causes of an issue. So one key to fostering racial equity will be to cultivate a diverse public health workforce, with a focus on groups that are often marginalized and under-represented in the sciences.
In CASJPH’s inaugural event this week we heard from Dr. Marie Bernard, the Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity at the National Institutes of Health. She talked about how diversity helps science, and was joined by NYU leaders in a discussion of how teams with diverse experiences and areas of expertise tend to be more creative and innovative. Asking questions drives science forward, and scientists with different perspectives often ask different questions.
Public health is inherently interdisciplinary and collaborative, and a diverse workforce is an ethical imperative in our effort to turn the tide against racism. As a school of public health, GPH has some of the most diverse students, faculty and staff in the country. I challenge it to remain so and even to lead the way, as we join together to train future public health professionals.
Melody Goodman, MS, PhD
Associate Dean for Research;
Associate Professor of Biostatistics