Although we are just shy of a new year, 2020 is far from disappearing in the rearview mirror. The challenges, opportunities, heartbreaks, and breakthroughs of this most extraordinary year will continue into 2021 as we tackle the triple public health emergencies of racism, a global pandemic, and the catastrophic results of climate change. Unexpectedly, 2020 has turned out to be “the year of public health,” when our field is vitally needed in a world unsure of its future.
COVID-19 was ravaging the globe and our country on May 25. On that day, police killed George Floyd at East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis. That heinous act was a flashpoint that made a 400-year public health emergency — racism — explode in protests around the world and reverberate through every institution in America, including higher education and our own school. Racism and the health inequities revealed by COVID-19 are dual rallying cries forcing our field to face its own prejudice and reform its missions of equity, diversity, and justice.
We cannot thank our community enough for its deep commitment to the public’s health and the missions of our school.
Since March, it has been all hands on deck at SPH. Faculty began studying new treatments for COVID-19 and are now coordinating global clinical trials testing monoclonal antibodies. They developed models with the Minnesota Department of Health to help guide policy response to the pandemic. They also exposed the pandemic’s collateral damage, including deepening inequities, rising domestic violence, and food insecurity.
Our faculty’s work on racism’s injury to the health and well-being of Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized Americans garnered new attention in a country that has deeply harmed itself for centuries. They developed anti-racism curricula for use in medical schools, explored how skin tones affect prenatal care, investigated the role of race in rural life, and worked to help young Black men and police learn to communicate, among many other efforts.
As faculty continue to do their usual work, they’re fielding media calls, teaching their school-age children, caring for elders, and managing their own anxieties about the future. SPH students have waded into both crises by contributing to research and adapting to new learning styles. This flurry of activity would not be possible without a staff that has been working overtime to keep the school functioning well during the most profound professional and personal challenge most of us have ever experienced.
We cannot thank our community enough for its deep commitment to the public’s health and the missions of our school. We are part of the entire system of public health, which has an important quality: adaptability. Public health seeks to prevent and prepare for major challenges, but it also has to quickly change direction to confront suddenly emerging circumstances.
We don’t yet know the pandemic’s impact on state higher education funding, though predictions are that the next two years may be very lean indeed. Some good news: Our school’s student enrollment is up 10% this fall. It’s a single data point only, but it may be that a new generation sees public health as indispensable to making the world a better place.
Another news item this year is my decision to retire after 16 years as dean of this great school. I will stay and lead into 2021 until a new dean is chosen and installed. It has been, and will be for the next several months, my honor to serve you.
Yours in health,
John R. Finnegan Jr. PhD
Dean and Professor
