On numerous occasions, I have emphasized that public health needs are ever-present regardless of policies or politics. Pandemics will sneak up on us, climate change marches forward the underlying causes of chronic conditions are unanswered, and insufficient investment is made in prevention. In recent months, numerous academic papers have discussed the assault on vital public health infrastructure and warn of impending consequences if this infrastructure continues to be dismantled. Nonetheless, public health needs remain and cannot be ignored – putting those of us in academic public health in a quandary about how to proceed.
I recently began to ponder what it means to train our students for the private sector. I’ve contemplated what it means for our faculty to pivot to private funding sources and partnerships. We may be facing such a future, and now is the time to consider how this future may take shape. Our long-standing commitment to training the workforce for federal, state, and local public health agencies remains firm, as does our commitment to joint collaborations with these agencies. But we must also begin to consider an expanded audience for our work if we are to continue meeting public health needs.
Contemplating such a future can be daunting, but as public health investment shifts, we must seek new ways to meet continued demands. Our voices are needed to ensure that everyone benefits from the best public health practices and state-of-the-art research. We are, after all, the stewards of population health. That means being present not only in traditional public health settings but also at tables where decisions with major health consequences are already being made—by developers, engineers, and investors. Imagine the impact if our perspective were part of those discussions from the outset.
To improve the health of our nation’s population and restrain growth in health care expenses, we will require more collaboration among the public health sector, health delivery organizations, third-party payers, and many other stakeholders. Public health leaders need to position themselves as health strategists for entire communities and be ready to form partnerships across sectors. Public health strategists may connect local nonprofits with local businesses to inspire investment so that everyone thrives. Many of our colleagues are already in the private sector. For example, a notable share of ColoradoSPH graduates work in health care delivery systems, pharmaceutical companies, and nonprofit organizations. Hospital systems employ public health professionals to advise on community benefit investments. And global corporations—such as Google, Apple, and Unilever—have invested in improving health within their surrounding communities. When companies design healthier food options, create cleaner energy, or develop technologies to track disease, they shape public health outcomes as surely as health agencies do. We must seize the opportunity to create the overarching collaboration needed to realize a strong public health vision for the future. We can do so through new partnerships and how we train our graduates.
The challenges we face are too big to be met successfully by only the public sector or, for that matter, health sector organizations, public or private. To have an enduring impact on improving the health and well-being of families and communities, it is necessary to have the involvement and leadership of the business, education, and government sectors.
What is the role of the ColoradoSPH in this movement toward more private sector involvement in public health? In a recent leadership retreat, our team started to coalesce on a theme in response to the question: What sets our graduate programs apart, and what kind of graduates do we produce? This theme centered on public health leadership and experiential learning. What struck me is that our graduates are already equipped to step into these emerging spaces. What we must do now is make that preparation visible, intentional, and a point of pride. We prepare them through leadership opportunities, research exposure, and experiential learning that span public and private employers. Our plan is to formalize, market, and communicate what it means to be a ColoradoSPH graduate and why employers need to hire them. We will strengthen our school’s capacity to prepare students for leadership. Here are just a few examples:
At the heart of all public health is the simple idea that health and wellness should be within reach for everyone. While language or tactics may shift with the times, the mission of public health remains steady. As we chart new paths with partners in the private sector, we do so not by abandoning our values, but by extending their reach. This moment calls for us to evolve and expand the skills we teach, the partnerships we build, and the arenas where our graduates lead. Public health will always belong in our agencies, clinics, and universities, but it must also have a voice in boardrooms, startups, and investment strategies. If we do this with integrity and vision, ColoradoSPH graduates will not only be ready for this future, they will define it.
I look forward to engaging with many of you as we shape what this expanded vision of public health can look like together.