Predict, Prepare, Prevent
Dear Pitt Public Health colleagues,
Pennsylvania is among four states formally designated as a commonwealth, a traditional English term denoting a unified community intended “for the common good.” The discipline of public health is a commonwealth with like purpose—a community of scientists, practitioners and students committed to achieving healthier, more resilient populations.
At the School of Public Health, our No. 1 focus is preventing disease. This objective is supported with rigorous research and teaching aimed at identifying and preparing for potential threats to life and health. Transdisciplinary research consistently confirms that public health prevention and intervention efforts are associated with reduced emergency room visits, hospital stays and overall morbidity and mortality.
Expertise in our discipline has accelerated in both advancement and gravity over the century-and-a-half since the founding of the United States Public Health Service. Tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning, along with whole genome sequencing and sophisticated statistical health data analytics are opening new windows into the fabric of our relationship with the world around us. >>See cover story
In the Spring 2025 issue of Pitt Public Health Magazine, you’ll read more about the concept that human, animal, plant and ecosystem health are inextricably linked. Indeed, a majority of emerging viruses first appear in animals. Surveillance and data analyses are crucial to our ability to predict how, when and where the next global pandemic may originate.
You’ll also see items on Pitt Public Health sustainability practices to limit waste in labs, offices and in the field, as well as featured research projects and alumni and student news.
The triangle diagram represents the reciprocal elements of public health’s mission to predict, prepare for and, ultimately, prevent disease. Each point of the triangle informs and reinforces the whole. Faculty across the seven departments of our school contribute to these efforts according to their expertise in infectious diseases and microbiology, epidemiology, data science, genetics, policy, community health and environmental
toxins.
Consistent monitoring provides baseline data, from which data analysis takes point, enabling us to act in real time. We evaluate our plans to spot readiness gaps and reduce risks. Measures thus tried and tested are disseminated across the system in a continuous loop of observation, evaluation and implementation that results in efficient, effective prevention.
We live this charge every day at Pitt Public Health.
