About Voices of Public Health
Our biannual newsletter, Voices of Public Health, updates members of our community on our vibrant and growing department of undergraduate and graduate students and interdisciplinary faculty. With each issue, we will bring you research, insights, and accomplishments of UC Merced Public Health and our partners. Our goal is to promote well-being for populations by advancing an equitable society, ensuring safe environmental conditions, and uplifting the voice and power of communities.
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Current Issue
A Message from Our Community
Dear community members,
As we welcome spring into the Valley, the Public Health Department has been busy laying plans for the next several years of our work. As part of an intensive and comprehensive strategic planning process, we have revised and recommitted to our department mission and guiding values. We feel that there is no better time to emphasize that our teaching, research, and service to our community is guided by the principles of health equity, social justice, and environmental justice. We take pride in fostering diversity and inclusion in our department. Indeed, our differences - of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, socioeconomic status, abilities, lived experience, and more – are vital to achieving our research excellence.
Our guiding principles are not just intentions but actions. This Spring’s newsletter highlights many examples of our faculty and students taking action. In addition, our faculty have been engaged in critical work such as a new study to reduce tobacco use among LGBTQ2S+ individuals by fostering identity pride as part of cessation support services, connecting with immigrant service providers to support naturalization clinics and understanding their needs to support immigrant communities, and addressing the needs of communities affected by disasters, such as the Maui Fire.
Most recently, members of our community stood strongly in support of science at a recent rally in Sacramento, speaking up for the importance of investments in rigorous research that advances public health. Finally, as we make an ongoing effort to communicate our work in a more inclusive manner, we are delighted to announce that many sections of our newsletter will now be available in Spanish. We will continue to add additional languages.
I’ll end on a fun (and slightly silly) note by inviting readers to follow us on social media. You can get a glimpse not only of our stellar students and cutting-edge research, but the ways we enjoy one another’s company and create community and joy in our day-to-day work with one another.
- Asa Bradman, Professor and Chair, Public Health Department
