Public Health Introduction

Hello!  My name is Shelby Graham and I am writing this blog as a sophomore here at Hopkins.  Unlike most, I am from a rural area just outside Louisville, Kentucky.  Throughout high school, my mornings consisted of 'mucking' out horse stalls and feeding the goats I received for my thirteen birthday (not your typical present).  In addition to academics, I am a varsity athlete and participant in Greek Life.  I am a member of the the field hockey team and Phi Mu.  Although I have decided to pursue a career in medicine, drawing and painting is my favorite hobby.  In the future, I hope to become a plastic surgeon; my idea of a bridge between art and medicine.

Freshman year I had trouble deciding what I wanted to study.  I knew I wanted to be pre-med, but could not decide on a major that interested me.  Originally I had planned on majoring in Writing Seminars, but, after talking with girls on my team, I became more and more interested in learning about public health, which I officially declared as my major this past fall.  I want to become a doctor, but the idea of preventing diseases before they even occur is intriguing and I want to learn more.  In simple terms, that is how I would define public health.  Just as the word 'public' itself suggests, the field does not just include a single focus.  But what attracts me most: it's unpredictable.  

The field of public health is still developing, yet so dynamic and complex.  Whereas clinical health focuses on the individual and curing diseases that already exist, public health instead hones in on populations and the prevention of disease.  Today, the population has become much more aware of what is healthy in terms of the environment and our own bodies.  There is greater emphasis on keeping the environment 'green' and also safer.  Public health studies have taught us the effects of smoking and second hand smoke, and even though smoking remains a problem, tobacco use has decreased substantially over the past few decades.

During our guest lecture on Tuesday, health was defined as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity".  I agree that this defines health, but especially public health.  It includes the scientific aspect of health, and also the inherently social and political portion.  In fact, sometimes the public health measures taken in response to problematic diseases outweigh the physical, or medical, 'cures'.  For example, in Tuesday's lecture I learned that in the 1940s, it was not the introduction of antibiotics like penicillin to the public that decreased mortality from infectious disease, but it was public health measures like sanitation and water filtration that caused improvement.

More than anything, these first three classes have shown me how I still have so much to learn about the field of public health, but I do know that my interest lies on the more medical side of the spectrum.  With the first few lectures behind me, I can say I have a much better understanding about the health policies involved in public health decisions as well as the environmental, poverty, and pyschosocial factors that play a role in public health issues.  I am looking forward to learning more about public health issues of today, like obesity, and also what the future holds for public health studies.