Ten Lessons in Public Health
Inspiration for Tomorrow's Leaders
Published on 10. May 2013
120 pages
978-1-4214-0905-4 (ISBN)
Description
A riveting personal tale of the rise of public health.
There are occasions when a story told from a personal viewpoint can illuminate a profession. Alfred Sommer's epidemiological memoir is such a book. Adventurous, illuminating, and thought provoking, Ten Lessons in Public Health is more than the story of one man's work. It tells the tale of how epidemiology grew into global health. The book is organized around ten lessons Sommer learned as his career took him around the world, and within these lessons he explains how the modern era of public health research was born.
Three themes emerge from Sommer's story: the duty to help your fellow human beings by traveling to places where there are problems; the knowledge that data-driven research is the key to improving public health; and the need to persevere with sensitivity and strength when science and cultural or sociological forces clash. Nothing in this compelling, sometimes controversial, history is glossed over, as the book's goal is to explain when and why public health efforts triumph or fail. Readers will travel to Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia, South America, and the Caribbean, where they will learn about spreading epidemics, the aftermath of storms, and vexing epidemiological problems. Sommer reveals the inner politics of world health decisions and how difficult it can be to garner support for new solutions.
Triumph, tragedy, frustration, and elation await those who set off on careers in public health, and Ten Lessons in Public Health is destined to become a classic book that puts the field into perspective.
There are occasions when a story told from a personal viewpoint can illuminate a profession. Alfred Sommer's epidemiological memoir is such a book. Adventurous, illuminating, and thought provoking, Ten Lessons in Public Health is more than the story of one man's work. It tells the tale of how epidemiology grew into global health. The book is organized around ten lessons Sommer learned as his career took him around the world, and within these lessons he explains how the modern era of public health research was born.
Three themes emerge from Sommer's story: the duty to help your fellow human beings by traveling to places where there are problems; the knowledge that data-driven research is the key to improving public health; and the need to persevere with sensitivity and strength when science and cultural or sociological forces clash. Nothing in this compelling, sometimes controversial, history is glossed over, as the book's goal is to explain when and why public health efforts triumph or fail. Readers will travel to Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia, South America, and the Caribbean, where they will learn about spreading epidemics, the aftermath of storms, and vexing epidemiological problems. Sommer reveals the inner politics of world health decisions and how difficult it can be to garner support for new solutions.
Triumph, tragedy, frustration, and elation await those who set off on careers in public health, and Ten Lessons in Public Health is destined to become a classic book that puts the field into perspective.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
12 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder
12 Halftones, black and white
File size
3,70 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4214-0905-4 (9781421409054)
DOI
10.1353/book.22047
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
05/2013
Johns Hopkins University Press
€34.00
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Book
05/2013
Johns Hopkins University Press
€25.50
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Person
Alfred Sommer, M.D., M.H.S., is University Distinguished Service Professor and Gilman Scholar at the Johns Hopkins University and dean emeritus of its Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is the author of Getting What We Deserve: Health and Medical Care in America, also published by Johns Hopkins; Vitamin A Deficiency: Health, Survival, and Vision; and Epidemiology and Statistics for the Ophthalmologist.
Content
Preface
Chapter 1. Go Where the Problems Are
Chapter 2. Get into the Field
Chapter 3. Forget the Job Description
Chapter 4. Don't Count on Things Staying the Same
Chapter 5. Follow Most, but Not All, of the Rules
Chapter 6. Collect Good Data-Even if You Don't Yet Know What Important Questions They May Answer
Chapter 7. Remember Your Humanity
Chapter 8. Use Data to Set Policy
Chapter 9. If You Think You're Right, Keep Pushing
Chapter 10. Take the Long View
Epilogue
Chapter 1. Go Where the Problems Are
Chapter 2. Get into the Field
Chapter 3. Forget the Job Description
Chapter 4. Don't Count on Things Staying the Same
Chapter 5. Follow Most, but Not All, of the Rules
Chapter 6. Collect Good Data-Even if You Don't Yet Know What Important Questions They May Answer
Chapter 7. Remember Your Humanity
Chapter 8. Use Data to Set Policy
Chapter 9. If You Think You're Right, Keep Pushing
Chapter 10. Take the Long View
Epilogue
