_01.jpg)
_02.jpg)
Arnold School’s Class of 2010: ‘Your choice sets you apart’ from other grads
May 12, 2010
Altruism. Kindness. Caring.
Those are but a few of the attributes attached to public health professionals and scientists, said renowned researcher Dr. Claude Bouchard who was the featured speaker for the 2010 Hooding Ceremony of the Arnold School of Public Health.
Bouchard, director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University, told graduates, “Most of you will devote your life to the science and practice of public health. Your choice sets you apart from other college graduates.”
Public health professionals and scientists have many desirable personality and behavioral traits, including altruism, kindness and caring, he said.
“Very importantly also, the concept of social justice resonates with public health professionals,” he said. “These values and attributes are not as abundant today in our society as they were in the past. I urge you to become a role model in this regard and to emphasize altruism and kindness toward others, and to embrace a tolerant public discourse not only in your professional life, but as a private citizen as well.”
Dean Tom Chandler said public health professionals who have earned degrees from the Arnold School already embody the ideals that Bouchard discussed in his remarks. But the public health field needs even more of these talented people.
“We have enhanced outreach and linkages with our public health practice colleagues and community partners throughout the region. You should know that the Arnold School’s remarkable service activity was a key reason the University received the prestigious Carnegie Foundation’s highest recognition as ‘a university of high service AND high research activity’ last year,” he said.
And, while the Arnold School celebrated the “transformation of 169 capable and diligent students into 169 dedicated and determined public health professionals,” a daunting challenge remains.
“Did you know that over the next four years, 25 percent of the public health workforce will retire? That’s more than 120,000 public health professionals. Therefore, the event that you are witnessing here today is a transformation that our state and our country needs now more than ever before,” Chandler said.
The Hooding Ceremony recognized the first six graduates of the Arnold School’s two, new baccalaureate programs – the B.A. and B.S. in public health. Chandler also lauded the Department of Exercise Science, which had six summa cum laude undergraduates with a GPA of 4.0. More than 40 percent of the undergrads graduated with honors, having earned a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
As all graduates move into the post-9-11 world, Chandler said the public is more aware of the roles that the public health system plays in handling an anthrax scare, responding to a swine flu outbreak, or protecting seafood safety from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
But most people don’t realize how much of a role public health plays in their everyday lives.
“I hope you will note the kinds of people who will be walking across this stage … and the kinds of contributions that they will make as public health professionals,” he said.
Among the graduates in the Class of 2010: a health administrator who will work at a hospital that serves the state’s rural population to improve access to preventive health services; an environmental health scientist who will work to find technically feasible approaches to safely remediate our polluted rivers, to protect South Carolinians from MRSA and E. coli, and to protect the state’s coastlines; a health educator whose job at a county health department will be to design programs to decrease teen pregnancies; a speech pathologist who will work to improve communication among stroke patients; an epidemiologist who will conduct research on Alzheimer’s Disease at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a biostatistician who will work for a pharmaceutical company to determine side effects attributable to new drugs; and an exercise scientist who will deliver lifespan fitness programs for cardiac rehab patients.
The futures of these graduates and others will ensure the future of healthy people and environments throughout the state and nation, he said.
Columbia philanthropist Norman J. Arnold, the school’s benefactor, embodies the spirit of altruism of which Brouchard spoke.
Speaking to the Class of 2010 and their families and friends, Arnold said his support for the school came as a result of a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer – a diagnosis that was grim, but that he overcame by trying cutting-edge practices to cure him of the disease.
“Having known illness, despair and helplessness first hand, I feel a tremendous responsibility and obligation to do something to help others,” Arnold said.
“Health disparities are among the most complex and persistent public health problems threatening our state and our nation,” he said. “I would like to see that everyone in this state is given the opportunity to learn and practice healthy lifestyles that would prevent many chronic diseases.”
Before delivering remarks for the Hooding Ceremony, Bouchard was the featured speaker for the Delta Omega Society Lecture on Wednesday, May 5. An expert on the genetics of obesity, Bouchard said scientists are on the cusp of using genetic information to identify people who would best benefit from exercise.
The potential to predict the impact of exercise interventions is one important outcome of new studies by an international team of researchers, said Bouchard, who was recognized with an honorary degree from USC last year.
In his remarks during the Delta Omega lecture, Bouchard reviewed the results of the HERITAGE Family Study, which involved an international team of researchers from 14 institutions.
Bouchard said research has revealed that while exercise is still widely considered a key to good health, it doesn’t work equally well for all persons, either because their bodies don’t respond to the exercise or they are constitutionally incapable of adapting to an exercise program.
In cases where genetic testing indicate a patient is not likely to benefit from a traditional exercise regimen, a physician or trainer could turn to other types of exercise or alternative therapies, Bouchard said.
The cost of an individual genetic profile is prohibitive now, but as demand increases, future genotyping will become more affordable and enable scientists to personalize recommendations, he said.
Bouchard said this process could be described as a “predict and prevent” strategy.
