Winter 2025 Pulse of Public Health
What emerging public health issue do you believe deserves more attention, and why?
Responses
I believe that one of the most urgent and underrecognized threats to the future of public health is the sustained political assault on the field itself. The erosion of trust in public health institutions and expertise, fueled by misinformation and the politicization of science, undermines society’s capacity to respond effectively to crises and safeguard population well-being. Beyond its systemic consequences, this hostility inflicts psychosocial harm on the workforce, fueling burnout, moral distress, and attrition within the public health workforce. These dynamics weaken our collective resilience and capacity to grow and strengthen our public health field, ultimately leaving communities more vulnerable to preventable harm. Protecting and restoring trust in public health, coupled with tangible supports to our public health workforce, must therefore be treated as a foundational investment in the nation’s health.
Though not a new issue, the scale of eroding trust in public health professionals has created a host of emerging threats: the resurgence of long-dormant infectious diseases, foodborne illnesses from improper processing, contaminated water sources from rapid industrial expansion, and research that lags behind our global peers. Rebuilding that trust will be the defining work of our careers as public health leaders and we must work with communities to create collaborative, lasting solutions to these challenges.
The world continues to see an increase in climate disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires and droughts, that significantly impact and displace communities. During and after these events, pregnant and postpartum birthing people may suffer prolonged exposures to environmental contaminants, displacement from their homes and increased psychological distress that put them at higher risk for preterm birth and other adverse pregnancy outcomes. Prolonged disconnection from routine prenatal care, hospitals and birthing centers can further contribute to poor maternal and infant outcomes. It is imperative to focus on the impact of these increasing climate disasters and create adequate preparedness strategies for birthing communities.
Both a long-standing and emerging public health issue to me is unhealthy alcohol use. Historically, alcohol use is the most prevalent substance use disorder and is involved in far more emergency department visits than other substances, yet it tends to get comparatively less attention than other substances in research and policy discussions. Now, there are newly emerging populations with increased unhealthy alcohol use, including amongst older adults, who can be at higher risk of alcohol-related harms for various reasons, and among women, who have historically used alcohol less than men. There are also a number of medications that can be used to reduce drinking among those with alcohol use disorder (some FDA approved in the early 2000s) and many people don’t know about them; they’re only used by around 2% of people with alcohol use disorder. I believe there is a lot of room for improvement on many different fronts, but particularly around how we identify people who might benefit from alcohol treatment services and how we connect them with services that actually improve their lives.
I believe that health equity is an ever-emerging public health topic that needs more attention. As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into every facet of our daily lives, more issues are bound to arise concerning health equity due to biases in programming and datasets. This is a topic that should be closely monitored to ensure that the use of AI in healthcare does not exacerbate existing health disparities but instead works to close the existing gaps.