Don’t you want to live to see me grow up?

My first public health campaign was when I was about three years old. 

I walked outside to where I knew my grandma was smoking, and asked her “Why are you smoking? Don’t you want to live to see me grow up?” 

She quit. Questions artfully posed. 

(My three-year-old self didn’t know about leading questions yet, but it worked out anyway).

People often ask: “why work on health?” This blog post is a partial attempt to answer that question.

I believe health is a human right, and that we can’t achieve equity more generally without health equity specifically. I have deep compassion for patients as well as practitioners. My work in health is motivated by my frustrations with inequity, with navigating the healthcare system as a patient and caregiver, and by my 3-year-old self who wants people to live healthier lives.

My time in Senegal, Benin, France, and Argentina exposed me to varied health challenges, cultural approaches, and healthcare systems. 

Whether it’s evaluating a statewide respite program for caregivers of those with dementia and Alzheimers, or designing a system for translating rapidly changing COVID information into over a dozen languages across multiple state agencies, I’m committed to finding solutions. The stakes are simply too high if we don’t.