Howard Koh delivered this year’s Yerby Lecture.

Howard Koh, former Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health, encouraged public health workers to step more boldly into the world of politics to gain support for their causes. Koh spoke after receiving the 2003 Alonzo Smythe Yerby Award on April 10 in Snyder Auditorium. HSPH Dean for Academic Affairs James Ware presented Koh with the award.

Public health professionals spend too much time talking to each other, preaching to the converted, said Koh. Instead, they need to work more vigorously in the political arena, interact with decision makers who may not know much about public health, and see the world from their points of view.

Koh has joined HSPH’s faculty as Professor of Public Health Practice in the Department of Health Policy and Management. In the fall, he will also direct the Division of Public Health Practice and become Associate Dean for Public Health Practice.

He described key players in the arena where politics and public health intersect as the "seven Ps": professional politicians, providers, passionate advocates, press, purchasers, penny-pinching budget officials, and the public. Although these groups are all pushing their own, often clashing agendas, finding common ground among them is the most effective way forward to improving health, he said.

Public health professionals should be on a first-name basis with their state government representatives and should make clear where they stand on specific issues, Koh said. Building personal relationships can go a long way towards garnering support for a public health cause.

	HSPH Dean for Academic Affairs James Ware (l) shakes Howard Koh’s hand after giving him the Yerby Award.

As for interacting with budget officials, Koh urged his public health colleagues to learn how budgets are crafted in state and federal governments. Quoting a colleague, Koh said that public health practitioners must "follow the money" to understand how the system works, particularly now as core health services are being cut in response to the state’s fiscal crisis.

Koh reviewed some of the state’s public health achievements during his tenure as commissioner. Among them was the fastest decline of any state in cigarette consumption thanks to a vigorous tobacco control program that has become a national model. As of May 5, smoking will be banned in all Boston bars and restaurants, even as the state’s tobacco control budget is being slashed from $49 million to less than $2 million.

In conclusion, Koh said: "Our health is a precious gift, but very fragile, and the only way to protect that gift is through action in the public health arena."

The Alonzo Smythe Yerby Award and Lecture honor the late Yerby, an HSPH faculty member from 1966 to 1982 and the first African-American dean and department chair at the school. Yerby served as a consultant to President Lyndon Johnson on drafting the Medicare/Medicaid Act of 1965. The award also pays tribute to public health leaders who have distinguished themselves in the field and is intended to provide role models for HSPH students, especially for students of color. The Division of Public Health Practice and the Massachusetts Public Health Association sponsor the annual event.

--Tom Reynolds