Dear Reader,

As you dive into this second issue of PH: The Yale Journal of Public Health, we ask you to pause for a moment to consider the field of public health from a student's perspective. At the undergraduate level, several major research universities offer a sampling of courses specifically related to public health; even more encouraging for enthusiastic students is that a total of fifty-six schools, including the University of California at Berkeley, New York University, and the University of Virginia, have gone so far as to create a public health major. As a result of events like the epidemiological crisis of AIDS and the advent of serious concerns about bioterrorism, we believe that the perception of public health has undergone a transformation in recent years: it has moved from a field considered by undergraduates to be in close association with traditional medicine, to a central and important occupation in its own right. Ultimately, the creation of a major is the only way truly to facilitate this exploding interest. But in spite of the important national trend and the rapidly growing interest within its own undergraduate community, Yale has not been at the forefront of integrating this vital topic into its academic curriculum.

Indeed, for a student interested in public health, but perhaps not interested in attending medical school, Yale College offers few opportunities for scholarly work - in spite of increasing interest demonstrated through a plethora of organizations focusing on everything from public health lobbying to community outreach. For these students, the lack of an academic framework to pursue their passions as scholars is not only an intellectual disappointment, but also a tangible disadvantage as they pursue their education at the professional or graduate level. Many of these issues were addressed in an Appendix to the Report of the Committee on Yale College Education, which represented an important first step in the creation of a major. Nevertheless, while these recommendations have been acknowledged and broadly discussed, they wait to be fully implemented.

We hope that the pages ahead will elucidate the diversity of issues represented by public health, and encourage you to voice your support for the formal incorporation of public health as a course of study at Yale College.

Sincerely,


    
David Steinberg         Matthew Wilson