Thinking Public Health

This Thinking Public Health will be held in the Havana Room at 4240 Duncan.

Thinking Public Health is a monthly, in-person gathering for moderated, structured conversations on pressing public health topics. Held under the Chatham House Rule, these discussions encourage open dialogue within the WashU Public Health community.

Public health’s mission has expanded dramatically in recent decades, largely through an embrace of the social determinants of health, i.e., the idea that factors such as education, housing, inequality, racism, climate, all shape health outcomes. This broadened lens means virtually any societal issue can be framed as a public health concern. Many in public health have long argued that this holistic view is necessary, since the world around us inexorably influences our health, and as such, it is impossible to separate the production of health from that same world.

Critics, however, warn of “scope creep”: If everything is labeled a public health crisis, then perhaps nothing truly is. An overly expansive scope could dilute public health’s focus and undermine its credibility in core areas (including sanitation, vaccination, or infection control). In short, when public health tries to address all problems, does it risk overextending itself? How far should the field’s boundaries stretch?

Readings:

• Brookfield S. What is not public health? J Public Health Policy. 2023;44(2):264-275.
  doi:10.1057/s41271-023-00404-X. PMID:37012486.
• Rothstein MA. Rethinking the meaning of public health. J Law Med Ethics. 2002;30(2):144-149.
  doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2002.tb00381.x. PMID:12066593.
• Goldberg DS. In support of a broad model of public health: disparities, social epidemiology,
  and public health causation. Public Health Ethics. 2009;2(1):70-83. doi:10.1093/phe/phn035.
• Rothstein MA. The limits of public health: a response. Public Health Ethics. 2009;2(1):84-88.
  doi:10.1093/phe/phn041.
• Hahn RA. Two paths to Health in All Policies: the traditional public health path and the path of
  social determinants. Am J Public Health. 2019;109(2):253-254.
  doi:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304884. PMID:30649942.
• Interlandi J. In America, if everything is a public health crisis, nothing is. New York Times.
  November 21, 2024. Accessed January 5, 2026.