National Public Health Week: Historical Public Health Figures
April 9, 2010 | KateB
As National Public Health Week draws to a close, Beats Per Minute wants to recognize a few individuals whose accomplishments have effectively shaped the field of public health as we know it today. There are three historic figures who have inspired generations of public health leaders:
Sara Josephine Baker (1873-1945)
Sara Josephine Baker’s contributions to public health cannot be summarized with one story or study. She graduated from the Woman’s Medical 
College of the New York Infirmary in 1898 and served as Assistant Commissioner of Health in New York by 1907. There she focused on midwife training, basic hygiene, health education and the reduction of infant mortality. Baker supplied pasteurized milk for indigent families, developed a program to teach young girls basic infant care, allowing them to care for their siblings while their mothers worked, and created a school health program that was replicated across the country. When Baker retired in 1923, New York City had the lowest infant mortality rate of any metropolitan U.S. city. Baker’s efforts were instrumental in linking economic and educational factors to medical care and poor health outcomes. Her work at New York City’s Bureau of Child Hygiene served as a model for the United States Children’s Bureau.
Edward Jenner (1749-1823)
Edward Jenner, an English scientist, is a household name (in my apartment at least!) for his work developing the smallpox vaccine. In 1796, Jenner inoculated an 8-year old boy using the matter from a cow pox lesion on a dairymaid, Sarah Nelmes. He observed that dairymaids who had cow pox were not stricken with smallpox and theorized that it could be transmitted from one person to another to prevent the development of the deadly disease. When the boy was exposed to small pox months later, he did not get sick. Others had arrived at these conclusions years earlier, but Jenner published his findings and actively promoted the practice of vaccination in England and throughout Europe. This past December marked the 30th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, which may not have been possible without Jenner’s contribution.
John Snow (1813-1858)
John Snow, known as the “Father of Modern Epidemiology”, refused to accept the common belief that cholera was spread by bad air. But his attempts to prove otherwise were largely ignored until 1854. That year, Snow carefully studied the cholera outbreak in the Soho neighborhood of London, which claimed 606 lives. He interviewed family and neighbors of infected households and recorded each death in a map of the neighborhood, which traced the infection back to the Broad Street pump. Snow used the evidence he gathered to convince officials to remove the handle of the contaminated pump, which effectively stopped the epidemic.
So, who are your favorite and most inspiring public health figures?
