Public Health: 2020 to the Present
By Dr. Muge Akpinar-Elci
Culturally in the United States, we are of the mindset that because we are not a developing country, we do not need to worry as much about things like infectious diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that diseases do not recognize city limits nor international borders. Globalization has drastically increased the risk for infection in all populations.
Public health is historically an underfunded discipline. Prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, I believe there was confusion surrounding what public health actually does. In essence, public health takes a holistic approach to health; where medicine is focused on the health of the individual, public health is invested in the health of the community at large. Much of the work public health is responsible for is preventative in nature, therefore making it uncommon for stories about public health to appear in the headlines. It is our job to stop the catastrophe from happening. However, no catastrophe means no eye-catching leads for news outlets to report on. In turn, that limited awareness often results in a lack of funding for our discipline. As a consequence, our invisibility and lack of necessary resources makes it incredibly challenging to serve our community to our fullest capabilities.
When the COVID-19 lockdowns finally occurred, the general public was experiencing uncertainty and confusion, which was understandable. Public health practitioners were trying to respond to new COVID-19 developments with no time to reflect and learn from the situation. The virus was quickly evolving and our biggest problem was combating miscommunication and misinformation. The fast-changing guidelines were expected from a public health standpoint; changing opinions or guidelines should not be viewed as a “bad thing,” because it indicates that we are learning, adapting, and evolving using the scientific method. How and why these things were changing needed to be clearly communicated to the public and unfortunately, this was not the case.
The best thing to come out of 2021 was the vaccine. I was really impressed with how quickly scientists came together to combat the virus. It really goes to show the power of science. However, the general public’s hesitation towards the vaccine was tough to see as a public health practitioner. The vaccine should have been seen as a sign of hope. If we think of smallpox for example, the only reason we are not still fighting it is because our grandparents got the vaccine which created immunity against it. We need to start thinking the same way about COVID-19; how we can not only help ourselves but our communities and future generations to come.
I was also in the process of moving from Virginia to Nevada during this time to start my new job as the Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Nevada, Reno. While it was a challenging transition in the midst of a pandemic, it was also one of the best times to become the Dean for the School of Public Health because of the increased visibility of our discipline. My worst fear is that all the recognition and visibility that public health has gained because of COVID-19 will no longer be relevant one day. I am optimistic for the notoriety we have gained, especially among the younger generations. We are now seeing new interest in students for our field, and we have seen incredible growth in our school. It is my hope that this new interest will result in continued support and new funding opportunities for public health.
Omicron is really what is shaping 2022 at this point, and it is highly contagious. We are also following a couple other variants that may come later on. I understand that everyone is bored and overwhelmed with this “new normal” that was imposed on them. But we really need to think of this as a war – our grandparents and great grandparents did not stop fighting the first World Wars because it was taking too long. I am optimistic that we can return to our normal lifestyles, but we need to keep in mind that this is not the last pandemic we will see. Another one may come and our future version of “normal” will need to shift in order for us to be prepared for the next one.
I want this to be an opportunity for public health. If we reflect on the last two years of this pandemic, we can analyze what lessons were presented, and I am hoping all disciplines can come together, learn from this experience, and prepare for the unthinkable. Resiliency is important and what makes us human, and preparation will only aid our progress. This is our opportunity.
Photo by Brin Reynolds
Dr. Muge Akpinar Elci is a professor and the Dean of School of Public Health at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Akpinar-Elci has more than 20 years of experience in clinical practice and public health field research. After medical school, Dr. Akpinar-Elci completed her residency training in Pulmonology and fellowship in Occupational Medicine in Turkey. Dr. Akpinar-Elci received a Master of Public Health degree from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana. During her career Dr. Akpinar-Elci worked for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and she was also a director of World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Environmental and Occupational Health in Grenada. In her last position, she was an Associate Dean at College of Health Sciences and the Director of the Center for Global Health at Old Dominion University.
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