"It's Time For a New Public Health Led By Radical Engagement": A Conversation w Dr. Sandro Galea, Dean of WashU Bursky School of Public Health

That’s the challenge facing Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the brand-new Bursky School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis. It is the first major school of public health to open in the United States after the pandemic.

In the wake of COVID, with trust in public health fractured and many Americans viewing the field as partisan, Galea is advocating that his field engage rather than draw lines. He believes public health will be stronger if it listens to all sides and embraces disagreement while still advocating for its values. He argues that the strategy is to widen the tent rather than shrink it, without compromising science or principles, or engaging with bad-faith actors.

The approach raises a critical question: as public health endures crippling funding cuts, vaccine policy is in turmoil, Medicaid faces major spending reductions, and trust in scientific expertise is low, is this the time for public health to reach across the divide, or resist and fight? 

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (off this wk)

Guest:

Dr. Sandro Galea, Dean of the Bursky School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis. 

Substack:

https://sandrogalea.substack.com/

Author of Why Health? What We Need to Think About When We Think About Health

Purple Public Health:

https://healthierfutureslab.org/research/purple-public-health

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