For Our Graduates, As You Go Forth.
Convocation has long been my favorite day of the year. Few joys match seeing our community come together to celebrate our newest graduates. The celebration is seasoned by the pleasure of meeting, often for the first time, the family of those we have seen transform from newly-accepted MPH candidates into dynamic members of our school community. Then comes what is, to my thinking, one of the key privileges of helping to lead an academic institution—the chance to share with you some words of reflection, as you take your next step.
This year is different. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we must postpone our Convocation. This decision emerged from a priority we all share, one which lies at the heart of all we do as a community, and that is promoting health. The physical distancing measures of this moment are necessary for health, and it is right we abide by them. But it is also right that we recognize the feeling of loss these measures entail, and do our best to fill the gaps in our lives they create.
So, while I cannot speak to you on a spring day amid the trappings of your achievement—the hats and gowns, the procession, the company of those we hold dear—I would still like to share some words. They are not the words I would have said if the world was still such that I could deliver them in person. But they are words which speak, I think, to this moment, and to your place in it as public health professionals.
It is truly the best of times and the worst of times for health. We face an historic pandemic which transformed society seemingly overnight. The steps we have taken to slow its spread have created social and economic disruptions, the consequences of which will likely be with us for decades, if not a generation. Beneath it all are health inequities which have long been with us, adding fuel to the fire of COVID-19. Driven by factors like race, place, and socioeconomic status, these inequities create pockets of marginalization and poor health which the virus has exploited. This crisis has also reminded us that no one’s health exists in isolation. The spread of COVID-19 has made the links between us impossible to ignore. Physical distancing is a recognition of these links. It is an acknowledgement that health is a collective good, sustained by collective effort. Our willingness to accept physical distancing reflects a new, global embrace of this fundamental reality.
This new perspective speaks to what is positive about the present moment. In considering how our health is linked, we have seen a solidarity emerge, a sense of collective investment motivated by our concern for health. This has quickly spread around the world, outstripping the virus, with a locus in every community. It is informed by a compassion for the most vulnerable, as we reach out to those at increased risk of COVID-19. All this has shaped a new understanding of health. We have long seen health in individualistic terms, as a commodity we can buy and sell. We valued health because we valued our own individual wellbeing. We now see that this approach is not enough to sustain healthy populations. We have learned to value health because we value each other. It is no longer a question of “What can I do to avoid getting sick?” It is “What can we do to keep ourselves healthy, and, in particular, to support the most vulnerable?
That is where you come in. While many are grappling with these questions for the first time, you have just earned a degree in knowing how to approach them. The world has changed—there is no going back. There is also no guarantee that this change will reflect the awakenings of recent months. We need leaders to step forward and turn possibility into progress. We need you, the class of 2020, to guide a recovery that lays the groundwork for a healthier world. You have the skills to do this. But, perhaps more importantly, you have the values to guide the use of these skills. They are values which say it is not enough to improve individual health without improving the health of populations, and it is not enough for overall health to improve while marginalized groups are left behind. The more you can build a world that aligns with these values, the healthier that world will be.
What would that world look like? It would be one founded on a basis of compassion, equity, respect, social and economic justice, community spirit. It would regard health as a public good, investing in it the same way we invest in other public goods, like education, parks, the environment, and national security. It would see beyond our present view of health as a commodity, recognizing that the part of health we can buy—medicine—can only treat us when we are sick, while true health is the state of not being sick to begin with. To get there, we need to create the conditions that generate health, conditions like safe housing, livable wages, clean air, drinkable water, and accessible quality education. Creating these conditions is the mission you have chosen—the work of public health.
A final note: As you progress in your careers, I hope you will stay in touch. Remember that no matter where your lives take you, you will always be part of the SPH community. We are a global network, with nearly 10,000 alumni living in 115 countries. As you join this extended family, we urge you to stay connected by attending our alumni events—once the physical distancing era ends—by subscribing to SPH This Week, our online newsletter, and by attending events here in Boston, where you will always have a home.
This virus will not last forever. Far more enduring is our connection as part of a community dedicated to promoting health. It is this connection which will see us through this difficult time, until we are once more able to meet. When that day comes, we will celebrate your achievement together with family and friends. You have the power to hasten the arrival of that day, through what you have learned at SPH. I have had the privilege of witnessing how up to this task you are. I have seen you innovate, question, advocate, and grow into the public health professionals you have become. That is why I am as confident and hopeful about the future as I have ever been. Because I know it is in good hands—yours.
Congratulations on your achievement. From the entire SPH community, we wish you the very best.
Warm regards,
Sandro
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor
Boston University School of Public Health
Twitter: @sandrogalea
Acknowledgement: I am grateful to Eric DelGizzo for his contributions to this Dean’s Note.
Previous Dean’s Notes are archived at: /sph/tag/deans-note/