Because much of the COVID crisis has been about dealing with the pandemic in real time as it has unfolded, there has been little time to reflect on the broader themes of what we have been through. We are now in a moment when we have been living with this challenge for over a year, a year which has taught many lessons about the nature of the virus and the society into which it emerged. It strikes me that this is a good time, then, to look back, to reflect, and to discuss key themes which emerged during the pandemic. That is why last week, in conjunction with National Public Health Week, we hosted a series of Healthiest Goldfish Conversations. At these conversations, we connected (virtually) with readers from across the world, to discuss the issues addressed in this newsletter, and to express a vision for what the pursuit of health could look like in a post-COVID future. Thank you to all who joined us for these conversations; it was a pleasure to connect with you, to learn from your perspectives. At these conversations, certain points emerged, points which have come to define our experience of the pandemic. In today’s essay, I will aim to address these themes, with the goal of informing broader reflections about the overarching narrative of the pandemic.
A quick “housekeeping” note before I do. The many new faces present at these conversations caused me to reflect that it might be worth reintroducing myself to those who have only recently subscribed to The Healthiest Goldfish. I am a physician, epidemiologist, and Dean of the Boston University School of Public Health. I started my career as a doctor, and most of my academic career has been in population health. Much of that has been concerned with a focus on mitigating the factors which generate sickness, moving beyond addressing downstream effects (more on this here). I have since pursued a focus on the social, economic, and political influences that shape health, with an emphasis on trying to inform a scholarship of consequence, to maximize health for the greatest number of people.
Read the full piece on The Healthiest Goldfish.