Welcome
HSPH 86th Commencement Ceremony
June 4, 2009
OPENING REMARKS
Dear graduating students, family members and friends, dear members of the faculty, and of our Harvard School of Public Health community, I have twice stood under this tent at the invitation of my esteemed predecessor and friend, Dean Barry Bloom, to deliver the Commencement address. But little did I know that one day, I would be speaking to you as the eighth Dean of this great school, which I am now so honored to serve.
Today, we will be granting degrees to you, in all, 491 students — 16 Doctors of Philosophy, two Doctors of Public Health, 54 Doctors of Science, 13 Masters of Arts, 278 Masters of Public Health, and 128 Masters of Science. You come, literally, from all over the world, as befits a school with a global mission. Your colorful flags displayed along the tent represent 60 countries.
Our American graduates come from 39 states, and there is one from Puerto Rico. Six out of every ten members of the Class of 2009 are women, one more indication that the future of public health is in good hands, indeed.
I have no doubt that this afternoon will settle in your hearts and memory forever. Very few moments in life concentrate with such intensity both the feeling of accomplishment and the thrilling restlessness of a new beginning. And that is exactly what we celebrate today.
Like spring itself, the notion of Commencement speaks of the fresh sensation that one phase is about to end, and another to commence.
I share with you these feelings as I stand here at the outset of a new phase in my own career. Joining a prestigious group of Deans, who over the past 87 years have made this School a world-class institution, it is their legacy that I am receiving, and it is this legacy that I intend to build on, so that when the time comes, I may hand it, enriched, to future generations.
This spirit has inspired me over my first months as Dean to articulate not so much a vision as an envision, to strengthen Harvard as the first school of public health of the 21st century. I use the word first in its two meanings — first in time and first in quality.
We are approaching a noteworthy centennial in the history of public health, and that is the Welch-Rose Report, published in 1913, which established the approaches and goals of schools of public health of the 20th century. This milestone gives us the opportunity to reflect on what a 21st century school of public health should look like, as Harvard leads the way in embodying the approach for the new century.
Much has changed in 100 years, but let me focus on three crucial attributes. First of all, health in the 21st century is fundamentally global. But global is not the opposite of domestic. Global refers to processes that affect every population in the world through our growing interdependence. It is this type of comprehensive global outlook that is shaping the way we understand health challenges and opportunities.
A second attribute of public health in the 21st century is its emphasis on integration along several dimensions. Of course, integration across disciplines, but also, integration across levels of analysis, with a capacity to examine problems from the gene to the globe.
Another domain of integration is between the values of excellence and relevance, which means that while we pursue the highest standards of academic rigor, we are at the same time providing solutions to the most pressing health challenges of our times.
The third key attribute of public health in the 21st century is its orientation towards the future, with a keen capacity to anticipate and shape trends. Public health is at the threshold of a new era, fueled by five simultaneous revolutions. In the life sciences, providing better understanding and solutions. In telecommunications, expanding access to care by underserved populations. In system thinking, allowing us to comprehend and transform complexity. In knowledge management, generating evidence to provide a scientific foundation for policies. And last, but certainly not least, in what Michael Ignatieff has called the "Rights Revolution," which is turning abstract declarations into concrete entitlements that persons can be empowered to demand.
There is no other school in the world that is as well positioned as ours to lead this new era of public health, because we have been preparing for the future by investing in the next generation, which is represented here by you, our graduates — the personification of our faculty's devotion to the higher calling of education.
In presenting you with your degrees, we are, in essence, entrusting you to carry forth the mission of the school, which is centered on a unified process involving the production of knowledge through research. The reproduction of knowledge through education, and the translation of knowledge into evidence that can guide policy and practice.
Knowledge — the fundamental product of universities — is truly the most potent lever to improve our world. With an evidence base and an ethical underpinning, public health interventions are a powerful force for enlightened social transformation.
I once sat there in a group like you to receive my public health degree. And then I moved from academia to a policy research institute, to an international organization, to a government ministry, to philanthropic foundations, and now back to academia. This is the rich world of choices and perspectives on public health that lies before you. And you will undoubtedly experience many of them.
This is how full a life in public health can be. It is both exciting and daunting. Your years at the Harvard School of Public Health, and your continued association with it, will give you the capacity to turn your ambitions into reality, for it is you, the next generation of public health leaders, where the hope for a better future lies.
I salute all of you on your accomplishments to date, and look forward to the full deployment of your talents for the betterment of our common human experience.
Congratulations.
CLOSING REMARKS
In closing, let me thank you all, really thank you from the bottom of my heart. This will be a very special class for me, my first Commencement as Dean. So you will always occupy a great place in my heart.
And let me thank you all for all you have brought to the School during your time here. When Harvard School of Public Health graduating students are polled before they leave, and asked, what comprised the best part of their experience here, they invariably answer, their fellow students.
When in a single classroom, a student from a Texas border county trying to solve the problems of asthma meets a Nigerian student who is addressing the rising toll of road accidents, and they meet a Japanese student hoping to erase the stigma of mental illness, a community of solidarity develops, and a rich brew of knowledge exchange emerges. This cannot be duplicated but at a world-class school of public health, populated by world-class students.
Before you leave, take a minute to look at your neighbor to the right and to the left, in front of you and behind you. You may be sitting beside a future Minister of Health, or someone who will discover or develop the solution to a centuries-old disease. Perhaps your classmate will save lives and prevent disease on an unprecedented scale in Houston, or Beijing, or Tehran, or Dar Es Salaam.
For in each one of you, a seed has been planted — to be an inspired researcher, an illuminated policymaker, a devoted practitioner of public health, and to have a significant impact on the world.
As you leave the premises with your friends and family, I hope that you will always keep in mind that this is your school, to which you can always return for consultation, support, and fellowship.
May the rest of your lives be as fulfilling as it has been for us to have you here in this house of knowledge.
Congratulations again.
