In celebration of Brown SPH's 10th Anniversary, we're featuring an alum on the 10th of each month who is advancing public health right here in Rhode Island. Larry Warner '97, a 2013 Brown MPH graduate, is Chief Impact & Equity Officer at the United Way of Rhode Island and Chair of the Governor's Council on Behavioral Health in Rhode Island. We asked Larry how his Brown experience has shaped his public health career.
Through my Brown training, I gained an appreciation for how social determinants of health contribute to health outcomes. Brown also taught me key concepts and skills in designing and evaluating public health interventions. I also developed crucial skills as part of my applied public health experience while working on a global health project with colleagues in rural Haiti.
“ Public health is bigger than people assume. Sit in on meetings of boards and commissions and see what happens behind closed doors, that may actually not be closed. ”
The School’s mantra - "learn public health by doing public health" - is as true now as it was 10 years ago. Rhode Island's size and the School's location in Providence provides unique opportunities for students and faculty to engage with key stakeholders and initiatives that would be more difficult to access in larger settings. This is a great opportunity to both reflect on the School's contribution to the public health landscape over the past 10 years, and to consider how and what it wants to contribute over the next 10 years.
"Doing public health" is both the destination and the journey. I usually advise people to follow their curiosities. Public health is bigger than people assume. Sit in on meetings of boards and commissions and see what happens behind closed doors, that may actually not be closed. Reach out to folks whose work you're interested in and ask for an informational interview. That could provide unique insights and open up a whole new world of possibilities.