Mergenthaler 111: Defining Public Health

Blogging is just one of those many new ventures waiting to be explored by a timid college freshman looking to leave her minute mark in the world. Welcome to this freshman’s attempt at creatively expressing her escapades through her newfound passion: Public Health.

Like every good Indian child, I used to believe that being “Kavya Vaghul the doctor” was the most humanitarian difference I could make. I was naïve. One thing led to the next, as I found myself humbled in India, peering out the windows into the slums where people could somehow flash the most beautiful smiles in squalor. How was this possible? It became painfully clear to me that to satisfy my love for compassion, medicine, and everything in between, I would need to be part of the community, helping the community. So the adventure began: The IKP Centre for Technologies in Public Health. Rural villages. CHWs. Primary Health Centers. Mental health issues in Tamil Nadu. Qualitative studies. Interviews. Health Day Camps. Visits to unsanitary biohazard disposal sites. Immunizations. And a sense of fulfillment and pure happiness that I had never felt before.

The Epiphany = Public Health manifests my dreams.

Luck would have it that Johns Hopkins University offers an Introduction to Public Health class, my guide through the broad spectrum of the social, the scientific, and the endless facets in this field. Day one in class, and we were delving into our semester-long survey with the question, “what is Public Health?”

A few mumbles in the audience and dazed expressions didn’t yield much at first, but three words resonated clearly. Public Health was the prevention of diseases and policy with an altruistic approach in support of the community, a global community. Obviously, my understanding of Public Health is limited, but our discussion progressed, revealing the complexity of its layers. I quickly began to realize that Public Health could be about the environment in which a population resides, the amount of education and awareness within a specific region or the accessibility of quality medical services all under the umbrella of maintaining the health of an individual, their community, and their world.

Yet even in the most precise definition of Public Health presents a conundrum. The multiple disciplines within the field complicate our grasp of the breadth of the subject. The reality of it all is that Public Health is inevitably tied into everything we do, a collective effort, if you will.  

Of course, these efforts, like our lives, are all in a constant state of change with countless vicissitudes. It is this parallel that characterizes the intrigue of Public Health, for me at least. I’d like to be able to see the world, interacting with communities, understanding the implications of health care on an international level, providing education and access to medicine in the remote reaches of the Earth, and maybe in the process, even reconnecting with the zeal life has to offer.

My second row seat in Mergenthaler 111 could easily be my favorite spot on campus; after all, it is my portal to the world of Public Health.