ASPPH COVID-19 Storytelling Project: How Schools and Programs Made an Impact During the Pandemic
Explore an array of compelling stories of how academic public health institutions & all ASPPH members worked within their universities, communities, regions and states to keep the public safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Explore public health stories
The pandemic, in all its tragic dimensions, has presented the kinds of challenges those of us who work in the public health field — academics as well as practitioners — have dedicated our lives to.
Around the world, countless stories have arisen from this calamity. Here, we tell the pandemic story as we know it. It gives an account of how the 139 member schools and programs of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), rose to answer the challenge of COVID-19.
Generating the evidence and the research needed to mobilize our schools and programs on COVID-19
In early 2020, when the COVID-19 wave slowly rose and then crested as a global pandemic, many governments and institutions struggled to keep up with rapidly changing events. As an association whose mission includes helping others to understand and respond to events like these, ASPPH moved quickly. Our schools and programs mobilized their considerable expertise and resources to start answering the many pressing questions that needed answering.
Mobilizing Academic Public Health to Make an Impact in the Community
As ASPPH members around the country have confirmed, the national pandemic response was actually a varied patchwork of responses — some robust, some weaker — depending on pre-existing preparations and protocols and the strength of public health partnerships in states, regions, cities, tribal communities and other localities.
Using our voice to advocate and champion truth and justice
ASPPH has long been proud of its role as a leading voice — not just for our members in academic public health — but as an advocate for the health of the public. Dean Wayne Giles of the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health speaks for many of his colleagues when he said: “It became clear to us as a school that in a moment of global crisis, this was public health’s moment to lead and shape a response that recognized social, economic and political determinants of health.”
Strengthening the workforce through education and training
ASPPH members took their public-facing role seriously. Across the country they were developing training materials for the workforce, educating and training students and health care workers. They were speaking to the public on social media, educating them in real time as the alarming story of COVID-19 kept shifting and evolving. ASPPH members also used their social media platforms creatively to inform the public about COVID-19, ways to prevent its spread and to promote the need to get vaccinated.
Supporting the community through academic work and on-the-ground public service
The pandemic has been notable for how, more than before, it has brought the world of academic public health outside of the university — literally out into the community, not only with contact tracing and conducting surveys but also delivering food, assisting in hospitals and establishing programs for vulnerable populations.
Building and maintaining effective partnerships at the local, state and global levels
From the onset of the pandemic, it was clear that ASPPH-member schools and programs would not succeed by working in isolation — that the only way to confront a national and global emergency was to team up with national and global partners.
Sharing lessons learned from the pandemic and recommendations for a path forward
An urgent question arises as we look back on the last three challenging years: Where do we go from here, as national and global leaders in academic public health and as members of the public health community? What lessons have we learned? What successes should we appreciate and replicate — and are there any habits or practices that should be un-learned?
