From left to right, Meir Stampfer, Jeffrey Koplan, Marc Lipsitch, and HSPH Dean Barry Bloom.

Koplan, a 1978 graduate of HSPH, good-naturedly quizzed attendees about major public health figures and milestones while he delivered his talk, "A Century of Public Health Triumphs–The Crucial Role of Epidemiology." He was introduced by Marc Lipsitch, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology. Koplan is currently vice president for academic health affairs, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University.

Emphasizing their epidemiologic underpinnings, Koplan described major public health achievements, starting with improved detection, control, and prevention of infectious diseases. In 1900, the three leading causes of death in the US were pneumonia or flu; tuberculosis; and gastroenteritis, enteritis, and colitis. In 1998, they were cardiovascular disease, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Improved sanitation, living conditions, education, and nutrition–as well as the development of vaccines and antibiotics–have all contributed to infectious disease control, he said.

Koplan considers vaccines to be the major medical advance in the 20th century, and their effectiveness has been aided by epidemiologic strategies. As one example, Koplan described a systematic vaccine preventive disease control plan used in Bangladesh over several years in the 1970s that helped eradicate smallpox in the country. The plan involved data collection, surveys, education, house-to-house visits by health officials, and rewards for participation.

An attendee responds to one of Jeffrey Koplan’s questions.

Koplan summarized other public health achievements in which epidemiology has played a major role, including improved workplace health and safety, better automobile safety, improved maternal and child health, reduced tobacco use, effective birth control, reduced heart disease cases, and use of fluoridated water in many US communities.

Looking back over the achievements, Koplan said that he was struck by the role of tenacious scientists who were also skilled communicators.

"Epidemiologists can be the biggest debunkers of conventional wisdom," he said.

In the future, epidemiologists face many challenges, he said, including developing a rational health care system, eliminating health disparities, addressing the obesity epidemic, and more.

"Epidemiologists have plenty to do in the next 100 years," he said.

Following his lecture, Koplan accepted a plaque from HSPH Department of Epidemiology Chair Meir Stampfer.