A New Class of Opinion Leaders

The Columbia University Public Voices Fellowship has named six Mailman School faculty to be a part of its 2017 class. Launched in 2014, the Fellowship is designed to raise the visibility of academic scholarship while expanding the breadth and quality of ideas that appear in influential media.

Jointly organized by the Department of Medicine and the Op-Ed Project with support from the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and the Heyman Center for the Humanities, Columbia’s Public Voices Fellowship, one of more than a dozen similar programs at universities accross the country, invites journalists and other writers to coach a selective group of 20 scientists, scholars, and clinicians on how to take their ideas to a larger audience through a variety of media—often including an opinion piece.

As part of the 2016 class, Helena Duch, assistant professor of Population and Family Health, contributed an op-ed in the Washington Post on how Donald Trump is normalizing bullying for children; Stephen Morse, professor of Epidemiology argued in U.S.News that we shouldn’t underestimate the Zika virus.

“It was terrific to collaborate with such a diverse group of bright people, all with different viewpoints, all of which we could come together on,” said Morse in a video about the program (watch below).

This year’s Public Voices Fellows showcase the Mailman School’s diverse subject matter expertise:

• Carol Caton, a psychiatrist and professor of Sociomedical Sciences, has published research on schizophrenia, homelessness, and the overlap of severe mental illness and substance use.
• Raygine DiAquoi, assistant professor of Sociomedical Sciences and director of the Office of Diversity Culture and Inclusion, has research interests that include anti-racist and multicultural education and racial socialization.
• Susan Michaels-Strasser, a pediatric nurse practitioner, assistant professor of Epidemiology, and senior implementation director at ICAP, leads a initiative to strengthen and sustain nursing in the fight against HIV.
• Virginia Rauh, professor of Population and Family Health and deputy director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, studies the link between insecticide exposure and childhood development.
• John Santelli, a pediatrician and past chair of Population and Family Health, advocates for adolescents to have access to medically accurate, comprehensive sex education.
• Lindsay Stark, associate professor of Population and Family Health, conducts research on the protection of women and children in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She is also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.

Watch a video about the Columbia Public Voices Fellowship: