Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #121723

John R. Lumpkin, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President and Director, Health Care Group, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, P.O. Box 2316 College Road East and Route 1, Princeton, NJ 08543, 08543, jlumpki@rwjf.org and J. Michael McGinnis, MD, MPP, Institute of Medicine, The National Academies, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 864, Washington, DC 20001.

The public health achievements of the 20th century lead to historically unprecedented reductions in diseases and death rates for Americans. From alleviating the underlying causes of death from infectious diseases in the early 1900's to reducing mortality from chronic diseases in the last half of the century, public health initiatives paved the way to broad-based health improvements. Yet, these achievements are often overlooked. This session discusses public health's greatest accomplishments and examines its potential for the future. The panelists will review the evidence of these accomplishments and discuss the science and technological basis for future success in areas such as information technology, genomics, prevention, and health care quality. Examples will be from areas such as infectious disease, food safety, and disaster preparation, as well as those chronic conditions and injuries influenced by behaviors, addictions, and social circumstances.

Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to

• Identify public health’s greatest accomplishments.
• Articulate the evidence to support each accomplishment.
• Discuss the science and technological basis for future success in areas such as information technology, genomics, prevention, and quality.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation