{"id":83564,"date":"2016-05-11T07:00:04","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T11:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=83564"},"modified":"2020-09-17T10:27:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:27:38","slug":"marylou-sudders-zip-code-should-not-predict-health-status","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2016\/marylou-sudders-zip-code-should-not-predict-health-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Marylou Sudders: ‘Zip Code Should Not Predict Health Status’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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May 11, 2016<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\"Marylou<\/p>\n

Professionally trained as a social worker, Marylou Sudders says public health and social work have a vital bond.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth professions understand the inextricable link between the person in the context of their environment and the impact on individual and community health,\u201d says the secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) of Massachusetts<\/a>, who will deliver the 2016 SPH Convocation address on May 14.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Appointed by Governor Charlie Baker in January 2015, Sudders leads the largest executive agency in state government<\/span>\u2014a $19.4 billion state budget with 22,000 dedicated public servants\u2014and oversees critical services that touch one in four residents of the Commonwealth.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When Sudders was Massachusetts Commissioner of Mental Health from 1996 to 2003, she championed legislative reforms including insurance parity, fundamental patient rights, the hospital interpreter law, and the creation of the first children\u2019s mental health commission.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe historic segregation of behavioral health and physical health has not served the US well\u2014either at the individual, community, or societal level,\u201d she says. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As Massachusetts restructures its Medicaid program, Sudders says the Baker administration aims to provide stronger linkages between physical and behavioral health:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPromotion of mental health, reduction of the burden of disease, and research into greater understanding of [mental] illness and effective treatments must be public health priorities.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sudders says two other public health issues loom large in her mind: health disparities and the opioid epidemic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe must eliminate health disparities,\u201d she says. \u201cZip codes should not be a predictor of a person\u2019s health status.\u201d Although Massachusetts now boasts the highest rate of health insurance coverage in the country, Sudders says there are still significant populations without access to quality, affordable health care. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe uninsured are disproportionately young adults, Hispanic, and low income,\u201d she says. \u201cWe must address the social determinants of health in order to improve the health of populations.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Regarding the opioid epidemic, Sudders says the governor\u2019s administration is moving in the right direction, \u201ccommitted to a public health approach, from prevention to recovery.\u201d With four people in Massachusetts dying from opioid overdoses every day, she says, \u201cwe are committed to bending the trend. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAddictions are a chronically relapsing medical condition, not a lack of willpower. Our efforts must open the doors to treatment, rather than incarceration.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For almost 10 years, Sudders headed the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Prior to her appointment as secretary, Sudders was an associate professor and chair of health and mental health at Boston College\u2019s Graduate School of Social Work. Sudders has served on many charitable boards throughout her career, including the Pine Street Inn, Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2012, Sudders was appointed as the behavioral health expert to the Commonwealth\u2019s Health Policy Commission (HPC), and she remains on the commission in her capacity as secretary.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She has received an honorary doctorate from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and was named Social Worker of the Year by the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. She was also nationally recognized with the Knee-Whitman Outstanding Achievement for Health & Mental Health Policy from the National Association of Social Workers Foundation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sudders says she is honored to give this year\u2019s convocation address\u2014and recommends public service to new SPH graduates. \u201cPublic service is a privilege and provides a great professional opportunity,\u201d she says. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cConsider public service as part of your professional journey\u2014either at the local, state, or national level.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Michelle Samuels<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Follow the SPH Convocation on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> at #BUSPH2016.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inequality, mental health, and opioid epidemic loom large in mind of 2016 Convocation speaker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10989,"featured_media":83400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[1926,1272,1871],"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\/83564"}],"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\/10989"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83564"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/83564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174208,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/83564\/revisions\/174208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83564"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=83564"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=83564"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=83564"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=83564"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=83564"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=83564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}