Public health leadership

Public Health Leadership in the 21st Century

Unprecedented opportunities for impact around the world!

Adapted from the Class of 2003 commencement address by Mohammed Akhter, MD, on June 15

It's a great pleasure and a true honor for me to welcome you to the profession of public health. We need you. This nation needs you. People around the world need you. I'll tell you in a moment why I say this.

This is a very exciting time to be entering the field of public health. At no time in the history of this nation has the public health mission resonated so very well with the American people and the government as now. I've never seen this amount of excitement-a lot of new resources, a lot of new technology, and a lot of new treatment and prevention methods. Many new vaccines are being introduced, and are being provided to us in public health. That provides us with an unprecedented opportunity that no other generation before us has had to truly make an impact on the lives of the people of the United States and people around the world. And you are the folks who have been given this opportunity!

Your participation in public health is important, and is most welcome, but your leadership in this arena is essential--that's what this country needs--that's what this world needs--and you must not shrink from assuming the responsibility of leadership. I say this because of two very important reasons.

The first reason is that public health leadership is all about setting priorities. Despite all the resources that have been offered to us, and will be offered in the future, the human need will far exceed the resources that are available. It is not only important to have the tools of public health available to you to set those priorities, it is also important that the school has imparted to you values and certain principles-principles of fairness, equity, social justice and human rights. These principles are like a compass. They always point in the right direction. If you follow those principles there is no question in my mind that this world will be a better place for all of us to live in.

So, combining your technical skills, and having your moral compass in hand, puts you in a leadership position like nobody else.

Reason number two: after the priorities are set, then comes the work. How do you get things done? How do you deliver? How do you achieve? Consider what you have been able to achieve. It's tremendous and has been the result of a partnership between you, your family, and the faculty of the School of Public Health.

Relationships are the currency for the future. Nurturing these partnerships and these relationships and building new ones are very important. Bring in non-traditional partners. We need to provide the opportunity for everybody, no matter who they are, what profession they practice or where they are, to come and join hands with you to get the job done. [Top]

At the World Health Organization building in Geneva there is a statue of an old man being lead by a young boy. The boy is holding the front end of a stick and the old man is holding the back of a stick. That statue represents the cruelty of the disease, but it also represents the helplessness and hopelessness of the human condition. The boy leading this blind man knows that one day he's going to be on the other end of the stick.
Former President Jimmy Carter, showed the kind of leadership needed today. Local and national governments, the Merck Pharmaceutical Company, the World Bank--he got them all together at the World Health Organization. As a result, the Merck Pharmaceutical Company developed the medicine and gave it at their cost. The World Bank funded the medicine. The World Health Organization and the local government made the delivery of the medicine possible. I'm very pleased to tell you that not only did it save the eyesight of hundreds of thousands of people, but they're well on their way to eradicating the disease.

That's the power of partnership! The same statue that represented the cruelness of disease and the helplessness and hopelessness of the human condition has now become a statue of hope for the future. It's a monument to what people coming from diverse backgrounds can do when they all join hands. There are three more such statues today: one at the Carter Center, another at the Merck Pharmaceutical Company, and a third in the lobby of the World Bank.

This is the power of collaboration and partnership. That's what true leadership is, and that's what I would like you to see, because you are the most prepared people technically and spiritually.

Finally, I want to tell you something about yourself. In addition to doing all the good work that you will do, please make sure that you take some time for yourself, for your family and friends, who know you and love you the most. Any amount of success outside cannot compensate for failure at home. You have to give them the time that they're due.

As you leave this wonderful campus and start your great adventure in life, my prayer is that your pocketbook will always have money, your heart will always have hope, and that you will always have purpose in your life!

Dr. Mohammad Akhter, was most recently executive director of the American Public Health Association (APHA), the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world. Prior to his service with APHA, Dr. Akhter was a senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He is a board certified physician and clinical professor in the department of family and community medicine at Georgetown University Medical School in Washington, D.C. He also serves as senior associate dean for Public and International Health at Washington D.C.'s Howard University College of Medicine. [Top]

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