On March 2, the Yale School of Public Health in collaboration with the CT Department of Public Health, will be honored to host VADM Jerome M. Adams, M.D., M.P.H. His trip to YSPH is part of a two-day visit to Connecticut hosted by the department and which will culminate in a summit in Hartford on March 3 He is an American anesthesiologist and a vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who currently serves as the 20th Surgeon General of the United States.
Prior to becoming surgeon general, he served as the Indiana State Health Commissioner from 2014–2017. Dr. Adams’ priorities include the opioid epidemic and addiction, oral health, and the links between community health and both economic prosperity and national security. In response to the opioid epidemic, Dr. Adams issued the first Surgeon General’s Advisory in 13 years, urging more Americans to carry naloxone, an FDA-approved medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
During his visit to YSPH, Dr. Adams will meet with subject matter experts in maternal health and participate in Grand Rounds with medical residents, students and faculty from YSPH, YSM, and YSN. In anticipation of Dr. Adams’ visit, Susan Nappi, YSPH Office of Public Health Practice (OPHP) executive director, interviewed Professor Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, OPHP faculty director, on the role and relevance of U.S. Surgeon General’s work and what his visit means to YSPH.
SN: What does the U.S. Surgeon General do?
RPE: The U.S. Surgeon General is the Nation’s Doctor, providing Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury. The Surgeon General oversees the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps, an elite group of over 6,000 uniformed officers who are public health professionals. The USPHS mission is to protect, promote, and advance the health of our nation.
SN: Can you tell me a little bit about the history of the Surgeon General?
RPE: In 1798, Congress established the U. S. Marine Hospital Service—predecessor of today's U.S. Public Health Service—to provide health care to sick and injured merchant seamen. In 1870, the Marine Hospital Service was reorganized as a national hospital system with centralized administration under a medical officer, the Supervising Surgeon, who was later given the title of Surgeon General.
SN: Have Surgeon Generals made a difference in public health practice in the United States?
RPE: Yes, very much so, especially through the Surgeon General Reports and Calls to Action. Specifically, these have led to effective calls to action that have translated into policies, programs and/or enhanced research agendas addressing major public health priorities. These include smoking prevention and cessation, substance misuse and addiction, mental health, nutrition, physical activity and obesity; pre-term birth, breastfeeding, healthier home environments. It is also important to mention the historical and public health significance of Dr. David Satcher, who was Surgeon General between 1998 and 2001, who held a strong stance on the need to directly address health inequities in the country through social determinants of health or “upstream” approaches. Dr. Satcher’s statements left an indelible mark on me that helped me become the public health researcher that I am.
SN: What do you expect that YSPH students will learn from Dr. Adams’ visit?
RPE: First and foremost, this is a unique opportunity for them to realize how important and powerful public health practice research, training, and education are to advance the health of the nation. This has implications not only for their intellectual formation but also to be competitive in the job market when they graduate. Second it is always important for our students to see and hear directly from such accomplished public health professionals such as Dr. Adams that anything is possible when we have clear goals and work hard towards them.
SN: And what about the faculty, staff and school as a whole?
RPE: Dr. Adams’ visit represents a unique opportunity for YSPH to benefit from his visit regarding what he sees as strengths and weaknesses of our public health practice research, training, and education constellation of efforts currently under way. The Office of Public Health Practice is in a phase of strategic growth and I’m looking forward to sharing with him what we do and where we can to take our practice based academic mission in our School to always serve better our students and the needs of our state and beyond.
Dr. Adams will meet with subject-matter experts Pérez-Escamilla and Megan Smith, associate professor of psychiatry in the Child Study Center and of public health and director of the Mental health Outreach for MotherS (MOMS) Partnership and Yale Child Study Center Parent and Family Development Program, to discuss maternal and child health beginning at 2:30 p.m. in room 106 at 47 College St. This will be followed by a Grand Rounds research discussion in the same room beginning at 3:30 p.m.. Both events are open to the YSM, YSPH and YSN communities.
Register for Grand Rounds/Research Discussion here.
More information on the U.S. Surgeon General and his office can be found here.