When Stephanie Psaki, a principal public health researcher, joined the American Department of Health and Social Services in 2021, she was responsible for helping to coordinate the government’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
She then joined the National Security Council at the White House in the Biden-Harris administration where she worked for two and a half years. Scientist and university in training, she told Herald that she did not expect to move on to this role -focused role.
“I didn’t think I was going to do this job when I was at first cycle or at the higher cycles school,” she said. “It never came to my mind.”
But now Psaki has returned to the academic world, bringing his political experience to Brown.
“If you want to do research that influences decision -making by political decision -makers, it is very useful to sit in the siege of a decision maker and to understand what factors facilitate or inhibit decision -making,” said Psaki.
Psaki is not the only academic school in the School of Public Health to have spent time in the federal government. Brown academics who spoke to Herald said that these positions have enlightened their work at university, helping them translate research into political solutions.
Scott Rivkees, professor of practice at SPH and associate dean of education, is the former general surgeon of Florida and secretary of health. But he told Herald that it was not something he always wanted to continue.
But when the opportunity arose, he felt obliged to grasp it because of the “chance of influencing the health care and the health of (millions of people) at the same time, rather than that at the same time”.
In the role in 2019, Rivkees was a general surgeon for a large part of the pandemic. Before that, he was in Yale for 16 years until he left Connecticut to chair the Pediatric Department of the University of Florida.
Rivkees said the pandemic had pushed many roles of public health. “After the pandemic, around 50% of people involved in public health at the level of the state or the federal level) were returned,” said Rivkees. For those under 35, the rotation rate was 70%.
He attributed this unsubscribe to stress by working within the government during the pandemic as well as weak wages for many public health positions based on the government.
“The individuals with whom I worked in the Florida health department, in terms of their wages, would be about half, or even less, what we would see in the private sector,” said Rivkees. “You will have more turnover due to some of the lifestyle and affordability problems.”
The Herald also spoke to Georgia Lagoudas, a principal researcher at the Pandemic Center for the School of Public Health. During the Biden administration, she spent two years at the White House as a principal advisor working on biotechnology and the policy of bioeconomy.
Lagoudas initially left research for the government because it was excited by the idea of making “change in people’s life” on a larger scale, she said.
Psaki and Rivkees both declared that government positions often depend on the current administration at the levels of the state and the federal government.
After the opposition to certain preventive measures COVVI-19 in Florida, the RIVKES left. But he knew he wanted to stay in the field of public health and decided to come to Brown after having a conversation with Asisha Jha, the dean of the SPH.
Psaki ended up returning to the academic world after the 2024 elections.
“I knew I was not going to have a job anymore,” she said. “I love the academic world, and I think it is an excellent opportunity to spend a little time thinking a little more about certain solutions to some of the problems we have faced in the past four years.”
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Elizabeth Rosenbaum contributed the reports.
Leah Koritz is a main editor covering science and research. Leah is Dover, Massachusetts and study public health and Judaic studies. During his free time, Leah likes hiking, watching the Red Sox and playing with his dog, Boba.