As a trained psychologist working in public health, Enrique Neblett understands the interdisciplinary power of public health. Neblett’s research focuses on the mental health of Black young people, in particular how racism-related stress affects health outcomes.
The field of toxicology within public health benefits from understanding these same mechanisms to inform how toxicity can manifest from an exposure into a health outcome affecting millions of people. That public health seeks to prevent adverse outcomes for large populations contributes to my interest in the field.
As a doctoral student, Lucie Kalousova knew she needed a dissertation topic that would make a meaningful contribution to improving population health and closing health disparities. The academic rigor and spirit of collaboration she found at Michigan helped her meld public health and social sciences into research that helps mitigate the adverse effects of smoking on minority and low-SES groups.
Could that researcher in goggles sitting in a lab really be an anthropologist? And how much adventure will they actually have? From the top of the Himalayas and the Andes to the insides of cells, Ainash Childebayeva has combined anthropology, genetics, and public health to uncover secrets of human history and keep today’s vulnerable populations healthy.
Katharine Bradley was steered toward public health by her mother’s career in hospital administration, but, she says, “health insurance policy is different than administration.” Now equipped with a PhD in Health Services Research and Policy, she works to create research-based evidence about Medicaid implementation so we can have better health care policy.
Long before the dangers of global warming were clear to us, public health researchers were pursuing protective measures for our most basic and valuable environmental resources and linking that work to concerns about health equity and environmental justice.