Like many of you, the Colorado School of Public Health has tried to make sense of the decisions made at the federal level and predict how they will impact public health in the near- and long-term. We are alarmed on a number of fronts including the emergence of infectious diseases, the gutting of vital databases necessary to track public health events, reduction in funding for training and research programs, and the insertion of ideology into scientific direction. But how do these events translate to everyday work at the School and what will it mean for Coloradans?
Let’s start with ColoradoSPH. For now, we’ve proven to be resilient but not without challenges. Six, and counting, grants have abruptly terminated thus far accounting for millions of dollars. One grant studied the relationship between diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease. Another studied vaccine hesitancy among American Indian and Alaska Native populations, and another provided training for people who care for sexual gender minorities diagnosed with cancer. Also terminated was a long COVID study that funded several students. The list is sure to grow.
The diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease study funded through Columbia University may be restored but not without considerable cost and disruption to the research team and the people who participate in the study. The cancer care study in sexual gender minorities is most assuredly permanently terminated given the language in the letter the team received. Here’s just two sentences: “This award no longer effectuates agency priorities. Research programs based primarily on artificial and non-scientific categories, including amorphous equity objectives, are antithetical to the scientific inquiry, do nothing to expand our knowledge of living systems, provide low returns on investment, and ultimately do not enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness.” People with cancer may disagree. The fate of other ongoing programs, including training in occupational health, remains uncertain as teams wait to see if these programs will be renewed in the coming months.
Thus far, the uncertainty around funding, new rules, and sudden governmental reorganizations have been the most difficult challenge. We are agile, and we have responded and pivoted quickly. Nonetheless, we are under threat, especially with the loss of institutional knowledge and familiar sources of information at the federal level. Moreover, these cuts will have a ripple effect impacting the livelihoods of scores of individuals. This means our mission to educate, train and prepare, responsive workforce will be most limited at a time when fewer professionals are already entering the public health workforce. Our ability to produce research that drives public health policy will be curtailed, and the School’s essential task to integrate medical systems and communities will be dampened.
How does this then translate into the health and wellbeing of Colorado? The school played a vital role during the COVID pandemic. We tracked outbreaks, hospitalizations, and most importantly, informed state leaders and shaped policy. More directly put, ColoradoSPH helped save lives. We also delivered vaccines and helped reduce vaccine hesitancy because while the development of vaccines is a necessary step, people must be vaccinated to realize the benefits. Our work in colorectal cancer screening is associated with a decline in colorectal cancer among younger people in Colorado. (Meanwhile, there is a national trend in the rise in colorectal cancer among people younger than age 50.) My own research demonstrates that Medicaid expansions are associated with earlier-stage cancer diagnosis, more effective and less expensive treatments, and longer survival. This research helped inform the Affordable Care Act that Colorado readily adopted by expanding Medicaid. We also engaged in more “edgy” and sometimes unpopular truths, such as the dangers from drought, wildfires, cannabis use, and the importance of firearm safety. These are things that must be examined from an unbiased, evidence-based lens so that people are informed, and societal harms are reduced. We do just that.
I spoke with a student this week about why she chose to get a master’s degree in public health. She is on her way to medical school, and while she wants to treat and cure patients, she sees the bigger picture – the opportunity to prevent illness. She has high aspirations for what she can achieve. Colorado needs people like her, and I’m proud to know this School will forever be part of her career. Personally, I cannot wait to see what she will do when she graduates. She, and many others like her, inspire us all through the uncertainties we face. However, I am fairly certain that we will start to lose people like this student as our ability to support them is diminishing. I am also concerned that the impacts we feel at the school will start to be felt in Colorado. And, all Coloradans should share in this worry.
We remain leaders in our field and are committed to training the workforce. We need your partnership to help us navigate the high level of uncertainty our field faces. Make a contribution to our Public Health and Science and Innovation Fund to support our research, our community-based programs, and resources of our School, or donate to a scholarship fund to support our students. In addition to making a financial impact, you can show your support by contacting your policymakers to voice your support for public health, attend an event benefitting the school or the public health profession, step up personally or professionally and join a board or commission as a public health champion, pen a letter to your local paper’s editor, and so on.
Colorado School of Public Health has a long journey ahead and we are committed to standing up for our science, and our faculty, staff, and students. If you believe in public health too, now is the time to take a stand with us. Thank you for being our champions and believers in public health and the work we do. Only public health can meet the basic health needs of the population.
