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From the Dean's Desk

The monthly Dean's message to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and our community provides updates on the school, reflects on our school's mission, and offers a personal take on what we in public health—through both action and facts—can do to make our societies healthier and more equitable for all.

To receive the Dean's message in your inbox each month, along with a roundup of school news, research, and events, subscribe to the Dornsife monthly newsletter.


  • Three Public Health Challenges and Hopes For 2021

    11/30/2020 11:05:11 AM

    A reflection on the year of 2020 and how it will be remembered.

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  • Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Public Health

    9/29/2020 1:57:08 PM

    Dean Diez Roux reflects on Ruth Bader Ginsburg's major public health-related contributions.

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  • A Pandemic Walk Through Philadelphia Neighborhoods

    8/31/2020 9:09:00 AM

    In some ways the pandemic has allowed us to see neighborhood differences that have always been in plain sight much better than before, and perhaps envision a world in which these things could actually be different.

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  • Summer Reading

    7/31/2020 9:09:00 AM

    During these uncertain times, reading can not only be educational, it can provide an opportunity for some necessary reflection. 

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  • The Systems That Drive Health

    6/30/2020 2:13:00 PM

    Addressing the fundamental causes of the profound and pervasive health inequities that we see by social class and race in our societies requires a systemic approach: an approach that acts on the “structure and policies” of our society.

    Inequities in health have been and continue to be today powerful motivators for social change. There are many things we can do as a school of public health to make visible the links, to show how systems operate and what their health implications are.

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  • The Pandemic Meets Foundations of Epidemiology

    4/29/2020 2:13:08 PM

    One of the many remarkable aspects of the times we are living through is the frequent discussion in the press and among the public of basic epidemiologic concepts that are usually relegated to abstract discussions in public health courses.

    Perhaps the greatest hope is that these discussions will ultimately reinforce the fact that public health is par excellence a government responsibility critical to the health of all of us.

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  • For Everything That Comes Next, Public Health Will Be Critical

    4/20/2020 11:57:00 AM

    Our School is actively engaged in many activities including getting information out through our webinar series, supporting the health department, participating in national and global discussions about the pandemic, analyzing data to characterize how the pandemic is evolving and who it is affecting, and advocating for the core public health and equity-oriented approach.

    These are hard times for all of us, for students, faculty, research teams and staff. We should all take care of ourselves and seek balance. But we are still moving forward, and we have a lot to learn, and a lot to think about and a lot to do. Our focus and expertise are necessary today like never before.

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