Toward the Future

The public health challenges we face are evolving more rapidly than ever. And they are more complex than ever.

That’s why we officially launched our new five-year strategic plan on September 12. It provides a roadmap for us as a school as we work to increase our impact on public health and do the most good—both here at Rollins and around the world.

Our cover story for this issue of Rollins magazine takes a deep dive into exposure science and the disproportionate prevalence of environmental exposures on communities of color in the South, as well as the work our researchers are doing to partner with communities to improve public health. The Latino Community Engagement Project and the Gilead COMPASS Initiative®’s Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Coordinating Center, both highlighted in this issue, effectively fold community collaborations into their missions as they work to address breast cancer and HIV/AIDS in the South, respectively.

This issue also looks at the community engagement projects that recent Rollins alumni are leading through the Rollins Epidemiology Fellowship Program. These epidemiologists are doing critical work in counties across the state and are building important relationships between Rollins and county health departments that will last for years to come.

The Rollins student experience has always been a differentiator for us at Rollins. In this issue, we spotlight three unique student experiences that have proved life-altering: authoring a book with public health legend Dr. Bill Foege, working in the industrial hygiene space at Delta during the pandemic, and attending—and presenting at— United Nations climate change conferences.

My optimism for the future comes back to the people. I am surrounded by people who are doing good things. A glowing example is Dr. Chandra Ford, who joined Emory in early 2023 and whose prominence as a scholar in racism, social justice, and public health will provide critical insight and leadership for years to come. I invite you to learn about Dr. Ford in this issue, as well as many other projects and people making their mark on the world. As always, this is just a small sampling of what is happening at Rollins right now.

Every day we are making new plans. We are trying new things. We are helping. We are hoping. We are working toward the future.

Thank you for joining us on this journey.

M. Daniele Fallin, PhD
James W. Curran Dean of Public Health
Rollins School of Public Health
Emory University