Pulse

EVMS marks National Public Health Week

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EVMS joins this week with institutions, schools and organizations across the country to celebrate National Public Health Week, April 4-10. 
 
The theme of this year's event is "Public Health is Where You Are," a sentiment Brian Martin, PhD, MBA, Professor and Associated Dean for Administration in the School of Health Professions, says captures the realities of the wide-ranging and dynamic field.  

“The pandemic has put the spotlight on public health activities in the United States — the importance of it, the protective benefits of strategic public health surveillance and interactions and the need for more funding,” Dr. Martin says. “It’s a broad field that goes beyond any one discipline to approach challenges at a community and systems level. Social determinants — for example, where you live, how clean your water is, whether you have access to healthy food — account for some 80 percent of a person’s overall health. Working collaboratively across fields, agencies and institutions to find and implement solutions together is what public health is all about.” 

Because of the pandemic, Dr. Martin adds, public health has become a field that both prospective practitioners and students and the general public better understand. “In the recent past, we studied Ebola and Zika and other health crises, but as Americans we mostly did so from afar,” Dr. Martin says. “Although it’s affected each of us in very different ways, everyone living in the United States has experienced impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

The pandemic also has highlighted the widening gap that exists among Americans of different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, worsening health disparities that already existed, Dr. Martin says.  

“We see evidence of those health disparities when we look at death and hospitalization rates for COVID-19, among other reported data, but we also see it in the health mitigation techniques and messaging shared throughout the pandemic,” Dr. Martin says. “One example is the ability of a person to quarantine after exposure to the virus, a foundational public health prevention strategy. While it’s relatively easy for someone living in a single-family home with sick leave benefits and/or the ability to work remotely to quarantine, it can be a much different story for someone living in a multi-family home without sick benefits and/or the ability to work remotely.

“There are, unfortunately, many health disparities in our communities. That is a main reason why I am excited to be involved in the development of a school of public health, which will better leverage education, research, and service to address population health needs."

In fact, last August, leaders from EVMS, ODU and NSU signed a memorandum of understanding to create Virginia’s first school of public health. 

Alfred Abuhamad, MD, Interim President and Provost of EVMS and Dean of the School of Medicine, who joined his fellow presidents at the signing ceremony, says the effort — known as the ONE (ODU, NSU and EVMS) School of Public Health initiative — is an important step forward in addressing pressing health inequities.  

“As a region, we can no longer ignore the health disparities that exist in our neighborhoods,” Dr. Abuhamad says. “Indeed, the health of our community should be measured by the health of the most vulnerable among us. Expanding our existing partnerships in offering high-level education in public health is an enormous step forward in broadening the impact we can have on Hampton Roads.” 

Look for more on Public Health Week on EVMS’ social media platforms.