When I served as health commissioner in Baltimore, the Mayor would hold regular community meetings known as “Mayor’s Night Out.” The rules were simple: Any city resident could come and ask any question on his or her mind. “Can we… Read More ›
Public Health
JAMA Forum: The Pain and Opioid Epidemics: Policy and Vital Signs
Near the end of my tenure as editor-in-chief of AJN, the American Journal of Nursing in 2009, I asked one of the coordinators of our pain column to write an article on opioid dependence and addiction. The diversion and misuse… Read More ›
JAMA Forum: The Influence of “Big Food” Promotes Healthy Profits but not Healthy Consumers
Like many industries, “Big Food”—the business sector that comprises agribusiness, food manufacturers, and marketers for the food industry—aims to expand its profit margins. But it does so at the cost of expanding US waistlines and contributing to high rates of… Read More ›
JAMA Forum: Place Matters for Tobacco Control
For too long, tobacco industry strategies to normalize and glamorize use of their product have perpetuated a preventable epidemic. Although US adult smoking rates declined to 15.1% in 2015, nearly half a million people die annually just from cigarette use… Read More ›
JAMA Forum: Lead in the Water: A Tale of Social and Environmental Injustice
In 1854, British physician John Snow famously wrote, “The most terrible outbreak of cholera which ever occurred in this kingdom, is probably that which took place in Broad Street, Golden Square, and the adjoining streets, a few weeks ago.” Snow… Read More ›
JAMA Forum: Flint, Michigan, and the Failure of Public Agencies
On my first day as health commissioner in Baltimore in December 2005, the chief counsel to the city gave me some advice: When you see a problem, fix it. Don’t let your first instinct be to wonder who caused the… Read More ›
JAMA Forum: 4 Simple Reforms to Address Mass Shootings and Other Firearm Violence
After the December 2, 2015, terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 people dead and 21 injured, the same, repetitive, “Groundhog Day” narrative played out on gun control as with other salient mass shootings, including a school in… Read More ›
