50 Years Later, How Far Have We Come?
50 Years Later, How Far Have We Come?
As we recognize National Public Health Week, Dean Adnan Hyder and Dean’s Advisory Board member Elizabeth Sommers remind us that public health has always faced crises with optimism towards building a healthier future for all.
Misinformation and mistrust in science. Social and political unrest. Inequities in healthcare. New pathogens. Financially-strapped healthcare institutions.
While these challenges certainly dominate the current moment, the year we are describing is actually 1976.
Fifty years ago, the evolving US public health system was facing backlash from a mass vaccination campaign against the H1N1 avian flu, and Legionnaires Disease was discovered for the first time. Here in Boston, the city was on edge following violence and riots stemming from school desegregation efforts, and the newly named Boston City Hospital faced considerable financial hurdles.
In the backdrop, a group of Boston University professors recognized that these health crises in Boston and beyond were interconnected. They knew that the health challenges facing our communities were structural, and required a multifaceted approach that moved beyond helping one patient at a time. As a result, Boston University School of Public Health was born in 1976 as a part-time night school for 50 students. Today, it enrolls over 1,800 students, including 500 across the world via a fully online and low-cost Master’s in Public Health program.
Public health was the answer 50 years ago, and (despite the crisis of trust we are currently in), it remains the answer now. Public health benefits us with clean air, enhanced safety for workers, road safety, vaccinations, nutrition, violence prevention, maternal and child well-being, and preventive strategies to optimize our health. Here in New England, public health raised awareness and implemented solutions to reduce toxins in our drinking water, such as PFAS, the harmful “forever” chemicals.
The threats to our public health infrastructure over the past few years have left many concerned about an uncertain future. In the face of decimating cuts to funding, a rise in viruses once nearly eradicated; the systematic and repeated undermining of health workers and their work; and concern about rejecting scientific evidence for political reasons, it is easy to feel disillusioned.
Public health has always faced crises with optimism towards building a healthier future for all. Despite the headlines, Americans still overwhelmingly trust the career public health scientists in the federal government and at professional agencies such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Heart Association, American Public Health Association (APHA), and more.
From April 6-12, the nation will celebrate National Public Health Week. Initiated 30 years ago by APHA, the week showcases the role and contributions of public health to our daily lives. It is an opportunity to envision improvements in health promotion, healthcare delivery, and a reinvigorated system that values each individual to enjoy the highest level of health that is possible for them.
It can be hard to think anything has changed since 1976. But thanks to public health schools like BUSPH, we have made incredible progress that has increased our life span dramatically. Public health led the movement against drunk driving; contributed to progress identifying the causes of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and dementia; and slowed the increased prevalence of heart disease.
In 2026, we need a recommitment to the foundational principles of public health, namely, promoting access to care and affordability of services; ensuring safe and effective healthcare interventions; providing culturally appropriate care in partnerships with community; ensuring the health for all; and cultivating a strong framework of evidence based on science.
We are grateful for the legacy of those 50 BU students and leaders who envisioned a dynamic learning environment that would promote the public’s health half a century ago. Despite the current difficulties facing both the healthcare system as well as public health practice and innovation, we will get through this challenging moment because that is what public health always does—demonstrate resilience and leadership in times of change.
Adnan A. Hyder, MD, MPH, PhD serves as Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor of Boston University School of Public Health, which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2026.
Elizabeth Sommers PhD, MPH, LicAc is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine; a Senior Acupuncturist and Researcher at Boston Medical Center; and a member of the Boston University School of Public Health Dean’s Advisory Board.
