The Contagion Next Time

A Health Book Talk with Sandro Galea

Join Community Health Librarian Rory Martorana in conversation with Dr. Sandro Galea about his new book, The Contagion Next Time.

Join us on Zoom using this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5516376197960/WN_MrcyuXHcRrSN7cqwL8QSbQ 
This event will also stream live on our Facebook page.
For more information contact Rory Martorana at rmartorana@nhfpl.org or by calling 203-946-2283.

Sandro Galea, a physician, epidemiologist, and author, is dean and Robert A. Knox Professor at Boston University School of Public Health. He previously held academic and leadership positions at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, and the New York Academy of Medicine. He has published extensively in the peer-reviewed literature, and is a regular contributor to a range of public media, about the social causes of health, mental health, and the consequences of trauma. He has been listed as one of the most widely cited scholars in the social sciences. He is past chair of the board of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and past president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and of the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. Galea has received several lifetime achievement awards. Galea holds a medical degree from the University of Toronto, graduate degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The future seems brighter these days, with COVID-19 vaccines available to any American over age 7 who wants one and most Americans acknowledging that the virus is a threat that should be taken seriously. There is much celebration of both the science behind producing multiple effective vaccines so quickly, and the political will required to open up eligibility to all adults just weeks after the vaccinations began to take place at all.

But we’re now entering an even more dangerous period, in the midst of all we have to celebrate, warns the dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, Dr. Sandro Galea, in a new book. The reason the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. so hard in the first place is due to an entrenched and long-standing misplacement of health priorities. And the only way to protect Americans from the steep human and economic costs of another pandemic—perhaps next time more deadly than COVID—is to fundamentally change the way we think about health.

THE CONTAGION NEXT TIME is a book about health that bucks the convention of what should be in a book about health at all. Which is Dr. Galea’s point: we’ve got our collective eye on the wrong ball. The U.S. health care system overwhelmingly focuses on doctors, hospitals, medicines, and—right now—on vaccines. But what we must confront immediately are what he calls the foundational forces behind health, and how the status quo we’ve been living in for decades (if not centuries) is responsible for the system’s failures during COVID-19.

 Among the topics Dr. Galea covers in the book:

• What he calls the “foundational forces” behind our collective health: the state of the world we live in, the conditions that create the level of health (or lack thereof) that we experience, the values that should inform these conditions on a national or personal level, and the science that can help improve our understanding of these conditions;
• Why many in the world of public health refuse to discuss how factors such as poverty, age, and race play an overwhelming role in someone’s ability to be and remain healthy—and why this silence must be overcome, now more than ever;
• How America’s legacy of racism and racial inequality is the foremost culprit behind our inability to say that all Americans have an equal chance at a healthy life, and why it’s critical that this is the central lens through which we have health conversations moving forward;
• Why there has been a dangerous shift in recent decades away from seeing health as a public good—where the government can and should play a role in its encouragement and pursuit—toward seeing health as personal matter that is strictly determined by one’s own behaviors and weaknesses;
• Why COVID-19 offers us an unprecedented opportunity to change the way we think about health: never has the connected nature of our individual health been more obvious or more clear;
• The importance of empathy in thinking about health, and how to change the way we think about it. Without empathy for those with different life experiences from our own, it’s very hard to see why change is needed, and it’s critical that we cultivate this skill;
• Why humility as a necessary position for not only those in the public health world, but for all of us, as we move toward life post-COVID. No one has all the answers, especially in the middle of a new health crisis, and we can learn a lot from other people as we craft solutions to these problems; and
• Why he sees reasons for optimism in the history of human health, and the great strides we have made as a society—and a species—in just the past 100 years.

 THE CONTAGION NEXT TIME offers a new way of thinking about health in America, and what we can do to ensure we are prepared for the next urgent health crisis.

“In this unforgettable book, Sandro Galea expertly demonstrates that our investing in the healthiest population possible is literally an act of national security against a future pandemic. The Contagion Next Time issues a clear warning, and a clear way forward. This book can save us if we are serious about saving ourselves.”
—Ibram X. Kendi, bestselling author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist

 “Dr. Galea’s book proves it is possible for us to build a healthier world after Covid-19—and the first step is to protect the most vulnerable, whether they’re in our own neighborhoods or across the globe. The Contagion Next Time is truly a must read.”
—Katie Couric, award-winning journalist
 

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