The Journey Ahead

Over a year ago, my colleagues and I dove into The Core with the opportunity to explore areas of public health that we may never have touched otherwise. A lot of it stuck. Some of it did not. But muddling through epidemiology, ethics, and politics forced us to draw connections and distill the respective passions that brought us to The Mailman School. Some of us were curious young intellectuals, some of us were established physicians and scientists, and others among us were socially minded activists. But together, we were all trying to answer: What is public health, and what is our role in it?

In my home department of Sociomedical Sciences, we paid special attention to how all aspects of life affect health. For me, however, the seemingly endless discussions of these social determinants became frustrating. If every issue discussed, be it chronic or infectious, is ultimately determined by the color of one’s skin or the size of their bank account, what can we do about it? How can we tackle these deep, structural forces that are engrained in society? What’s a student of public health to do?

Luckily, we are learning exactly what to do about these deep and complex problems. Our second year is preparing us for the professional and political barriers we will face in improving health. Courses in law, policy, and management are giving us a toolbox to use in our fight for a more just and healthy world.

We have entered the job search full speed, and are using this growing toolbox to demonstrate our value to the field. I’m personally honored to have secured a position as a Senior Healthcare Consultant to the federal government. I’m excited observe the incentives for health insurance payers align to a new phrase: “Population health management.” This new method relies on prevention, care management, and ensuring access to adequate living conditions. If these sound familiar, it’s because they’re core tenets of public health. This is just one area where public health is gaining ground, and I know my colleagues will have plenty of other professional examples in the years to come.

So, here it comes. It’s our final semester of grad school, and the “real world” lies beyond. We have worked incredibly hard, and are eager to hit the ground running at our shiny new jobs. But beyond a paycheck and a more impressive LinkedIn profile, we feel like we can finally make some kind of difference. That’s why we came here, after all.

If you would like to contribute to Mailman Student Voices, please send a three to five-sentence pitch outlining your topic to mailmancomm@columbia.edu.