Alumni Bookshelf
The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and Happier By Kasley Killam, MPH ’20
September 13, 2024 – In this book, Kasley Killam writes that there are three pillars of health—physical, mental, and social, the part of wellbeing that comes from feeling connected. She outlines the science linking loneliness to poor health outcomes and offers research-backed strategies for cultivating and sustaining meaningful connections. She spoke to Amy Roeder about how her time at Harvard Chan School influenced her work.
“If we create environments that are supportive of our health and wellbeing, we’re all going to be better off. Studying at Harvard Chan really helped me understand the importance of that and how to identify more ways that we can create a more socially healthy world. One experience that stands out was when I collaborated with Professor Ichiro Kawachi on a textbook chapter summarizing research on how the built environment can be designed to promote better social health.
As a student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, I was focused on thinking about loneliness through the lens of public health. Then, I graduated into a global pandemic. To be thrust into an environment where social health was so relevant was devastating on one hand but also motivating. It felt like a real world need that I might be able to contribute to. So I’m very grateful for my time at the School.” Read more
Alumni honors, career moves, and items of note
2000
Sandro Galea, MPH, will step down as the dean of Boston University’s School of Public Health at the end of 2024 to launch and lead a new school of public health at Washington University in St. Louis. Galea has been dean since January 2015.
2003
Melody Goodman, SM, PhD ’06, became interim dean of the School of Global Public Health at New York University in April. Goodman, a member of the faculty there since 2017, previously served as interim chair of the Department of Biostatistics, vice dean for research, and most recently, senior executive vice dean. In addition, she is the director of the Center for Anti-racism, Social Justice & Public Health.
2013
Richard Chinnock, SM, chief medical officer for Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, received the 2024 Shirley N. Pettis Award at the hospital’s annual gala in April. He was honored for his decades of dedication and for distinguished service provided to patients and staff at his hospital.
2016
Omoruyi Credit Irabor, MPH, joined the radiation oncology team at Central Care Cancer Center in Great Bend, Kansas, in July. He completed his radiation oncology fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Penn., and a post-doctoral research fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
2018
Sujata Saunik, Takemi Fellow, was named the chief secretary of Maharashtra state, India, in June. She is the first woman to hold that position. Her previous positions with the state include additional chief secretary of ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship and principal secretary of public health and financial reform.
2022
Barrak Alahmad, PhD, received a 40 Under 40 Catalyst Award from the Boston Congress of Public Health in June. A physician from Kuwait, his research focuses on the effects of climate change on population health in the Middle East, with a special focus on the health of migrant workers.
Harvard Chan School alumni in action
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