{"id":146461,"date":"2019-05-20T11:56:38","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T15:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=146461"},"modified":"2020-09-17T10:32:31","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:32:31","slug":"2019-convocation-stand-up-for-what-is-right","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2019\/2019-convocation-stand-up-for-what-is-right\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 Convocation: \u2018Stand Up for What Is Right\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"banner-container banner-has-html\">\n<div class=\"responsive-video\">\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buniverse\/interface\/embed\/embed.html?v=ElMLH0\" width=\"855\" height=\"481\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">May 20, 2019<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>Addressing 440 graduates of the School of Public Health at the Boston University Track &amp; Tennis Center on Saturday, May 18, Convocation speaker Mona Hanna-Attisha called on the largest class in the school\u2019s history to embrace the unexpected and \u201cstand up for what is right, no matter how hard it will be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBy taking on a life of public health, you have put yourself on overwatch, and you will be on the front lines of some of the most important battlegrounds today,\u201d she said. \u201cI urge you to use the tools that you learned here, and the tools you will acquire, to keep your eyes open.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cLet your clarity of vision and your broad public health perspective show you how the world should be, not the imperfect place that it is,\u201d she urged.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hanna-Attisha is the pediatrician, scientist, activist, and author whose research exposed the 2014 Flint water crisis. She is currently an associate professor of pediatrics and human development at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and the founder and director of the Michigan State University-Hurley Children\u2019s Hospital\u2019s Pediatric Public Health Initiative, a program that aims to mitigate the effects of the Flint water crisis on children and families.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSometimes the work you choose has other plans for you,\u201d said Hanna-Attisha, who found herself facing the dire needs of an entire community after she publicly revealed evidence of elevated blood-lead levels in Flint children in September 2015, over a year after the city switched its water source from the Great Lakes to the highly corrosive Flint River.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It was her public health perspective\u2014shaped by her knowledge of epidemiology, statistics, policy, practice, and environmental health\u2014that enabled her \u201cto take on something bigger.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Flint water crisis, Hanna-Attisha said, is a story of what happens when \u201cthe people charged with keeping us healthy and safe care more about money and power than they do about us and our children.\u201d Despite frustrated and fearful mothers and community members raising concerns about murky drinking water and the inexplicable illnesses of their children, government officials told the people of Flint to relax and that everything was OK, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBut it wasn\u2019t OK. It was preventable, but no one stopped it. It was avoidable, but it happened.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After announcing her research findings, she received swift condemnation from state officials. \u201cFor a minute, I regretted using my voice,\u201d Hanna-Attisha said. \u201cI was scared. I was sick. I began to second-guess myself. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBut that was quickly replaced with the realization that this had nothing to do with me, and everything to do with the kids,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Flint water crisis was not an isolated story, she said: There are kids everywhere \u201cfrom the Rust Belt of America to coal country, black, brown, white, waking up to the same nightmares of poverty, injustice, austerity, lost democracy, and stolen opportunity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This, Hanna-Attisha said, is why the dedication and perseverance of emerging public health professionals is more important than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe need all of you,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause vaccine denial is a public health issue. Racism and hate and nationalism are public health issues. Guns are a public health issue. Controlling women&#8217;s bodies is a public health issue.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hanna-Attisha closed by underlining the core values of public health. \u201cThe story of Flint shines a light on our civic responsibility and deep obligation as human beings to care and provide for each other,\u201d she said. \u201cFrom this day on, you are entrusted to be the voices of health.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><div class=\"responsive-video\"><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"400\" height=\"241\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buniverse\/interface\/embed\/embed.html?v=1Cn0BI0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/div><br \/>\n<span>Student speaker Marylyn Creer, an MPH recipient committed to helping people access quality health care and tackle or prevent chronic diseases, told her fellow graduates about the values that her late mother instilled in her during her childhood.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cMy mother taught us to always help others, and never forget where you came from,\u201d Creer said. When Creer was 21, her parents were both hit by drunk drivers, and her mother passed away. Creer said as she grew older, she never forgot her mother\u2019s words.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Growing up in Tuscaloosa, Ala. and later moving to Birmingham, Creer served as a community leader, grassroots organizer, and a neighborhood president for almost 30 years before coming to SPH.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI mentored young, underprivileged people,\u201d she said, \u201cand I wept when my mentee, Wendy, was killed in a senseless murder. I wanted to do something about all of that. I knew I had to work in public health.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At SPH, Creer said she soon discovered that inequities and injustice exist everywhere. \u201cI was brokenhearted,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then I became emboldened and encouraged when in those same classrooms I learned about ways that I could fight the good fight, and of ways to fight smart.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Creer urged graduates to show care and respect for these communities. Borrowing a quote from her brother, she said \u201cpeople don\u2019t care how much you know until they know how much you care.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As they go out into the world, she told her fellow classmates, \u201ccarry that torch of justice with you and be determined to make a difference. You can, and you will, and you must.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u2019s ceremony also celebrated the accomplishments of other members of the SPH community. Two faculty members were honored for teaching and scholarship: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/jessica-leibler\/\">Jessica Leibler<\/a>, assistant professor of environmental health, received the Norman A. Scotch Award for Excellence in Teaching, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/sydney-rosen\/\">Sydney Rosen<\/a>, research professor of global health, received the Faculty Award in Research and Scholarship.<\/p>\n<div class=\"responsive-video\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"550\" height=\"310\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/buniverse\/interface\/embed\/embed.html?v=eagwe0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n<p>Mary-Lynn Fulton (<span>SPH\u201999), Head of\u00a0 Clinical Operations Study Management at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, spoke to the new graduates about the importance of advancing and refining the leadership skills they gained at SPH.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Student Greylin Hillary Rinaldo Nielsen received the Leonard H. Glantz Award for Academic Excellence.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/harold-cox\/\">Harold Cox<\/a>, associate dean of public health practice, presented the first-ever Award for Excellence in Practice to Amparo \u201cChary\u201d Ortiz, senior financial administrator in the Department of Biostatistics.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/vanessa-edouard\/\">Vanessa Boland Edouard<\/a>, director of strategic initiatives, received the Dzidra J. Knecht Staff Award for Distinguished Service.<\/p>\n<p>A separate SPH Awards Ceremony on May 17 featured the presentation of several new awards to a total of 32 students, faculty, and staff for their outstanding contributions and achievements to the SPH community. View the full list of award recipients <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/announcement\/student-staff-and-faculty-awards-2019\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a0<em>\u2014<a href=\"mailto:jpmckoy@bu.edu\">Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At 2019 Convocation, Mona Hanna-Attisha encouraged graduates to persevere in face of health injustices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":146579,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[1272],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3531,3541],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146461"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175168,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146461\/revisions\/175168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146461"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=146461"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=146461"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=146461"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=146461"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=146461"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=146461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}