The Power of Public Health Professionals

Public Health Professor Christy Porucznik, PhD, delivered an inspiring address to the Class of 2025, offering a message of hope as graduates embark on the next chapter of their careers.

Here are some observations. You’ve made it through every version of “I can’t do this.” The you at orientation who heard me say that every class, every experience would be different because of your presence, because you matter and have something to contribute—that you is gone. You’re a new you. You’ve grown and changed, and we are so proud of the yous that you have become.

As you move into the next phase, I urge you to show up for yourself and your team. You can be an inspiration for others. People are watching—how will you show up for them?

I challenge you to measure success in as many ways as you can and record those wins. There’s power in data—not just in numbers but also in the stories and the context, quantitative and qualitative are both relevant—and may have different impact in different settings, but you have to keep a record.

Memory is fallible and malleable. Write down your thoughts and wins so that future you can use that experience.

It's tough out there. It’s hard to focus with distractions all around.

Change is affecting institutions at a rapid pace and in ways we might not have imagined a year ago, but change is constant. We’re never going to achieve zero uncertainty. The good news is that one of the skills you have learned during this program is some comfort with living in the grey. Very little about science or public health is black and white. There are always risks and benefits. You’ve learned how to identify and measure, how to monitor and evaluate, how to make decisions in line with priorities, and these skills are just as relevant now as they always have been.

Public health professionals tend to be people who care about people. It’s always the right time to operationalize that care into action. Let someone know how their efforts supported the team result. When there’s a task to be done, ask for volunteers and suggestions. Even if you are ultimately the decision-maker—getting more perspectives almost always creates better decisions. Support your colleagues and let them support you in return. I’m not telling you to keep score. When you do that, everyone loses. I’m suggesting that you take opportunities to help and accept the gifts of help that others offer you in return. A sense of belonging to a team is a better predictor of satisfaction than salary.

As a profession, we’re going to keep working for the world we want to live in the same way we always have—by working together. Each one of us has a role and can contribute. If we can work together, we will achieve more. It feels to me that there’s an attempt to divide and conquer. To make institutions pull up the drawbridge and protect ‘their people’, but in public health, all the people are our people. If we start sharpening our elbows and fighting with each other, we will have already lost. I believe that open arms and collaboration is the path forward. It’s time to question the ways we have been working and invent new ways. It’s ok to change your mind. It’s ok to stop doing something that no longer serves you or doesn’t make sense. Focus forward. I’ll quote from a book I read recently “…dwelling on what you were, instead of what you are, never gets a person far…”

One of my favorite phrases lately is “How might we…” It’s not presupposing an outcome, it’s open to the future, and it is explicitly encouraging participation.

So, friends, how might we find hope in the current chaos of public health and research? Look around, the hope is here. It’s inside each of you and in the collective energy you bring to the world. Public health people are inherently hopeful. We wouldn’t have chosen this field if we didn’t think we could make a difference, and that hasn’t changed. You still have the ability to affect every person you meet, today, tomorrow, and every day after that. Do you have to be perfect all the time? No, of course not. Every interaction is an opportunity to do better.

Use your voices, speak out. Use your hearts, support each other. Use your heads, plan for the reality we are in while using your imagination to prepare for the future you will help to create.