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Geriatrics Expert Named
Appointment
| Geriatrics Expert Named Dean of Mailman School of Public Health Linda Fried says school’s mission and values match her own vision of the future of public health |
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After a 25-year career at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Fried is coming home. In her case, home is New York City, where she was born and raised, and where she now looks forward to plunging into every aspect of urban and global public health as she assumes the reins of one of the most prestigious public health schools in the world. Dr. Rosenfield, who has nurtured and grown the school into the public health powerhouse it is today, will continue as professor of population and family health and of obstetrics and gynecology.
Dr. Fried is currently the Mason F. Lord Professor of Geriatric Medicine and professor of medicine, epidemiology, health policy, and nursing at Johns Hopkins. She directs its Center on Aging & Health and the Program in Epidemiology & Biostatistics of Aging at the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. She will take her post at the Mailman School in May.
“One of the things that excites me, among many, about coming to the Mailman School is that public health leaders here are able to create synergies with other medical center colleagues and with those in diverse disciplines across the breadth of a great university,” Dr. Fried says. “There is tremendous opportunity for mutual benefit and cutting-edge collaboration.”
As a geriatrician, Dr. Fried’s research has focused on the causes of frailty and on finding methods to intervene to prevent disability caused by this condition. At Columbia, where she will be DeLamar Professor of Public Health Practice and a professor of epidemiology, Dr. Fried plans to continue work on improving the health of aging populations, as well as key issues in urban and global health.
In Baltimore, Dr. Fried co-designed a senior volunteer program, Experience Corps, which was designed to have a positive impact on the health of older adults while improving academic outcomes for children in public elementary schools. The program places older adults in classrooms and schools 15 hours per week, effectively targeting several issues at once.
“In a time of constrained finances in the public education sector, this program creates a lifestyle change for older adults while at the same time benefitting children and schools,” Dr. Fried says. Thousands of adults 60 and older have participated and are participating in Experience Corps, which has expanded into 20 cities, including New York. Dr. Fried is now conducting a randomized controlled trial to garner evidence on health outcomes for the older adult participants, education outcomes for children and benefits for the schools.
Dr. Fried has clear ideas about the many public health issues that must be addressed and defined for the future.
“Historically, public health has concentrated on communicable diseases, hygiene, and prevention of epidemics,” Dr. Fried says. “The discipline has expanded over the years to encompass chronic disease prevention, community-based health studies and programs, and effective health promotion. More recently, emergency preparedness, surveillance for biological threats, and diminishing health risks for vulnerable populations have received attention. To this panoply, we now need to add the creation of a public health workforce that is adequate in numbers and positioned to lead and serve, and learning how to best care for aging populations.”
A great draw for Dr. Fried is the Mailman School’s commitment to scientifically rigorous and ethical research geared toward promoting health as a fundamental human right.
“This school has an unwavering sense of bravery and a willingness to pursue research and service programs that address controversial or socially unpopular areas,” she says. “The people here are committed to resolving social inequities and associated disparities in health.”
Under Dr. Fried’s leadership, the Mailman School’s strong global focus will continue. Although about half of the health issues in less developed countries are related to infectious diseases, the remaining health problems are similar to those in the United States. People in these countries are catching up as far as developing so-called “lifestyle” diseases – heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Findings from global health studies, therefore, now have worldwide applications.
“In the months and years ahead, medicine and public health will be increasingly intertwined in a way that will enhance the quality of both medical care and the health of communities,” Dr. Fried says. “This is a wonderful time to be coming to Columbia.”
—Anna Sobkowski
| The Mailman School in the Allan Rosenfield Era: Influential, Renowned Worldwide 1975 Dr. Rosenfield recruited to head the new Center for Population and Family Health in the School of Public Health with a joint appointment in the Department of Ob/Gyn at P&S. 1976 Dr. Rosenfield succeeds in having the Center for Population and Family Health established as the sixth division of the School of Public Health, to be called the Division of Population and Family Health. 1985 The School of Public Health embarks on the search for a new dean as the field of public health has gained in visibility and importance both domestically and globally. Search committee unanimously recommends Allan Rosenfield for deanship. Late 1980s and 1990s Dr. Rosenfield named dean in 1986. Begins to work on a larger scale – reaches out both to the local Washington Heights community and Harlem as well as internationally. Expands the school academically and in number and expertise of faculty. 1998 Conversations between Dr. Rosenfield and the Joseph L. Mailman Foundation lead to a gift of $33 million, at the time the largest gift ever made to a school of public health and the largest naming gift in the university’s history. The school is renamed in memory of the late Joseph L. Mailman. Today Multifaceted research and service delivery programs operate in nearly 50 countries around the world, addressing such issues as HIV/AIDS, environmental health, maternal and child health, bioterrorism and disease surveillance. |
