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Boston University Magazine Profiles Dynamic Dean

“The name Sandro Galea pops up alot.” That’s the comment made by one of our writers in discussing possible topics for this month’s issue. To better understand why this is so, subscribers need only read the latest issue of Bostonia, the Boston University (BU) quarterly magazine which published a revealing portrait of Galea, the Dean of the BU School of Public Health, in its recent issue. According to the magazine, “Galea’s goal is to not only take BU to the forefront of public health, but to take public health to the forefront of American discourse.”  His approach seems to be paying dividends.

Background

Trained initially as a physician, Galea came to see from some of his early volunteer work overseas that he could have more impact by working on prevention at the population level rather than on treatment at the clinical level. His wife explains this in the article by noting “Sandro and I both gravitate toward the hardest thing, where we’ll be challenged and have the biggest opportunity for impact.”

BU Sparkplug

Many of Galea’s colleagues at BU share their insights about the him in the magazine article. According to Lisa Sullivan, “Sandro is a dynamo. He has more energy than any person I’ve ever encountered, of any age.” This helps explain why at 44 Galea is the youngest public health dean in the country and why he has infused it [BU] with “near palpable electricity” according to Bostonia. His colleagues describe his leadership as both “exhilarating and exhausting.”

Social Causes

As other population health scientists have come to understand, Galea recognizes the importance of the social determinants of health, especially income inequality, in accounting for the health status of populations. According to the profile, Galea believes that US health inequalities are due to public policies we adopt and these policies are changeable if we have the political will to do so.

Advocacy

This focus on the amendable nature of current policies which impact health has convinced Galea they should be changed and that public health professionals should engage in some form of advocacy. According to colleague George Annas, “Sandro thinks we should be out in the world. If we have something to say, we should say it.” He adds “Enter the political arena, for God’s sake. Don’t just sit there and count things.”

Hatred of Public Health

According to Bostonia, Galea has entered the public arena by writing and speaking extensively. Interestingly, he has also rubbed shoulders with policy leaders from conservative think tanks.  According to Galea, “Conservatives hate public health. They hate public health with a visceral hatred…and they hate public health for two reasons. Number one—they feel like public health has a value set that they don’t agree with. But they also say that we use data only to serve our ends, to impose upon them regulation and policies that they don’t agree with.”

 [Ed. Note: We recall an anecdote which exposes these values differences. There was an outspoken and recalcitrant participant at a meeting about data on second hand smoke. Hearing about the health effects of second hand smoke, he was refusing to go along with the other attendees in agreeing on a policy to ban smoking in public places. The outlier was asked why he was being so recalcitrant. He replied: It’s not that I don’t hate smoking as much as you do. Rather, it’s because I hate government more!]

Clearly, public health advocates in such a culture have their work cut out for them. Galea told Bostonia about his encounter with conservatives, “What emerged for me is that public health needs to be much more honest, much more straightforward.”

To read the full profile, visit
https://tinyurl.com/ztxluva   ■


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