Challenges abound in public health, surgeon general tells graduates

Citing 100 years of advances in science, such as the eradication of smallpox, a 30-year increase in longevity and widespread immunization for childhood diseases, Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., told the EPH Commencement audience that much remains to be done in this century. Among the challenges facing the 78 graduates in public health, Satcher said, are HIV/AIDS, an aging population and racial and ethnic disparities in health care. “How can we continue to improve the quality of life for all Americans?” he asked. “To the extent that we respond to the needs of the most vulnerable among us, we respond to the health needs of the nation.”

Satcher called for a balance among the basic, biomedical and clinical sciences and for partnerships between public health and science. “We have to make sure we write policies that are consistent with the best available science,” he said.

Student speaker Matthew Freeman, M.P.H. ’01, asked his classmates to heed the admonition of Ralph Waldo Emerson “to leave the world a little better.” “I, too, hope that we will find success by Emerson’s definition,” Freeman said, “by improving the health of the people, keeping the environment clean and seeking the most effective ways to prevent and treat disease.”

EPH Commencement 2001

The following prizes were awarded to faculty and students of the School of Public Health at Commencement:

Award for Excellence in Teaching
Elizabeth H. Bradley, Ph.D.

Dean’s Prize for Outstanding Thesis
Arvind Bakhru for “Smoking Cessation and Changes in the Acute Phase Response”

Pedram Fatehi for “Comparing the Predictive Value of Plasma Glucose Tests”

James Martin Kessler for “West Nile Disease: An Evaluation of the 2000 New York City Department of Health Active Physician-Based Surveillance System”

Martin David Slade for “Effect of DNA Vaccine and Granulocyte Macrophage-Colony Stimulating Factor on Cottontail Rabbit Papillomavirus Growth”

The Henry J. (Sam) Chauncey Jr. Inspiration Award (awarded by alumni of the Health Management Program to a student who exemplifies Mr. Chauncey’s ideals of innovation, integrity, leadership and community service)
Trisha Marie Lollo

The Courtlandt Van Rensselaer Creed Award
Angela Marcia Williams