when I grow up, I want to be a...

So the last time we met in class, there was a little discussion about some of the strange things doctors will say about public health. For example one of my females classmates mentioned that she encountered a medical director who said that he did not care about public health and that he had no qualms about prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics to his patients--anything to save a life.

Of course what he said was rather shocking to a class of public health students especially since it was coming from a well-educated (we hope!) medical professional, but the real issue is how did he get to possess such a view? I believe that somewhere between medical school and where he is now, he decided to place his patient as his top priority, and every decision and action he undertook from then on served to support that belief he held. The view he holds now wasn't something that was created overnight, it started as a shaky belief substantiated by his actions and decisions over the years.

What I learned from the doctor is this: for those of us about to embark on new careers, we have to realize what it is exactly that we stand for--what are our beliefs and what do we really want to fight for. Because over the next few years, we will engage in actions and decisions that will strengthen that stand and our beliefs will become part of who we are. And even if that stand appears ridiculous from another perspective, it is something that we have fought so hard for that we are unwilling to let it go no matter how silly it seems.

Figure out what you want to believe in, and start it out right--you may never get a chance to change it again.

maybe we'll do it right next time

I find it really interesting that Dr. Shahi suggested to his colleagues at Rockefeller that organizations like theirs were responsible for global health issues by going in to a country and trying to reduce their mortality rates without addressing the social issues that contribute to the high birth rates.

While Dr. Shahi's suggestion really brings a sobering new perspective into the whole idea of "saving the world"-- where good intentions may not necessary lead to good outcomes--it also tells us that public health is making some progress. We are no longer just trying everything that we think might work and seeing what sticks, but rather we are now evaluating our actions before actually trying them out to truly address global health issues.