Barry Bloom

Dear HSPH Community:

To new and returning students, faculty, and staff–welcome to the new academic year!

Whether you are registering for new classes, or just returning from the Labor Day holiday, I hope you share my excitement about the promise of each new academic year–in the sense of renewal, expectation, and possibility it brings.

There are some academic and logistical changes at the school that will affect us all in one way or another. The revolutionary new school calendar, with student exams out of the way before the winter break, will be a great boon for those who have experienced the old calendar; hopefully by next year it will just be part of the landscape. The new WinterSession will run for the first time in January, and we will need the help of the whole community to make it a success. Here there are new opportunities for really innovative courses and educational experiences, including provision for non-academic offerings. If there is an area of expertise you have to offer, please come forward and let us know about it.

We are once again expanding across the Fenway, and over the next several weeks, a new contingent of faculty and staff will move to the Landmark Center. This will bring the total complement of HSPH members there to 350. We will be working on ways to facilitate transportation between the main campus and Landmark and will work hard to maintain a sense of togetherness across the two locations.

It is impossible to comment on the start of this academic year without reference to the anniversary of September 11th. Assistant Dean Zegenu Tsige, who was so helpful in bringing the community together last year after the tragedy, has planned a discreet commemoration this year. Beyond that, as we commit ourselves to the pursuit of public health and to reducing disparities in health in this country and around the world, we understand that we are engaged in work that we hope may contribute to preventing such acts in the future. We now have new opportunities with our CDC Preparedness Center to develop knowledge and training materials that we can share with frontline people and with our state public health officials on how better to prepare this country against bioterrorist attack and also against the continuing emergence of natural infections.

One interesting way to begin to learn about our community is at the Mission Hill Walk for Health to be held on Saturday, September 21. And I look forward very much to meeting and greeting as many new students as I can at the reception in their honor on September 22 at the Harvard Faculty Club.

As we take on the diverse problems pursued by faculty and students across our departments and disciplines, we must not be forgetful of our responsibility in public health–to be concerned, in everything we do, with the impoverished and disadvantaged people everywhere. Our knowledge should provide solutions to major health problems and hope to those reduced to hopelessness. That’s a great mission, and I appreciate the deep commitment of this wonderful community to it.

Best wishes to all for the 2002-03 academic year.

Yours sincerely,

Barry R. Bloom