The potential, and limits, of science | The Healthiest Goldfish

On shaping a science that supports a new, post-war vision for public health.

Improving the health of populations depends on science, on building a foundation of knowledge that helps guide our actions. I have previously written about how the work of public health rests on the work of population health science. My book, Population Health Science, co-written with Dr Kerry Keyes, and several other commentaries such as this 2017 article in Epidemiology, were efforts to help advance the fundamentals of the field—the science at the heart of all we do. 

At this post-war moment, when we are looking to build new foundations for public health, a focus on science to help us to ground these efforts has never been more important. Therefore, today’s Healthiest Goldish is the first of two essays on the role of science in the work of public health—on its strengths, its limits, and its intersection with the values of those who practice it. 

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