Jared Erdmann

Jared Erdmann has an M.P.H. in public health administration and policy from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.  He is interim co-director of Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER), a Latino-specific, nonprofit, community-based research organization. Erdmann describes himself as a responsible, spiritual, self-motivated, hard worker who is comfortable with ambiguity. 

What attracted you to public health?
When I was in college, peer educators from the Youth and AIDS Project (YAP) would come and talk with us.  I was inspired by their work, so I volunteered as a peer educator doing HIV/AIDS prevention and discovered that I had a sincere desire to help others--especially other gay men. When I completed my undergraduate degree, I worked in sales consulting to pay off student loans.  The job wasn’t very rewarding.  So once I had paid the bills, I applied to the Peace Corps and was sent to Honduras on the heels of Hurricane Mitch. While I was in the Corps I found out that many of my colleagues, who I emulated for various reasons, had master’s degrees in public administration or public health. 

What advice would you give to someone thinking about a public health career?
Know yourself.  Know what values are important to you.  What’s your motivation for going into public health?  It is that motivation that will keep you going.  I know I could be making more money, but I also know that the work I do helping other people allows me to sleep well at night and appreciate simple things in life.  I would encourage anyone going into public health to take this responsibility seriously.   You have to be able to set your beliefs and values aside and ask what is best for others.   You need to be able to view the world through someone else’s eyes.  In addition, I would encourage members of the gay community to go into public health.  They have the ability to relate to and empathize with marginalized populations.  A gay person has so much to offer in terms of life experience.  If you’ve ever been marginalized, you bring a perspective to the table that can help those who have never been there, to understand it, and maybe influence them to demand change, fairness and justice.

You’ve just recently been given a leadership position in your job, how do you like that?
I wish I would have learned in school how difficult it is to be a leader within a minority community.  So much of what happens isn’t in the book.  It can’t be taught.  But knowing that would have been helpful. 

Can you share a story about a time you’ve felt you had a real impact in people’s lives?
Most of my Peace Corps service was spent improving stoves and chimneys in our municipality to make sure babies and mothers were not inhaling smoke all day long.  We affected 2,000 lives and improved 350 stoves.  In the end, I had 150 people show up to my meeting to get a diploma saying that their stove was fixed.  Mothers thanked me and told me that they had never felt so good.  They didn’t have headaches anymore and could breathe.  That’s rewarding!

If you could predict the future, what do you think is going to influence the public’s health and why?
When people realize that the bio-medical model is not what will keep them healthy.  What keeps you healthy is what you do, what you eat, how active you are, how you take care of yourself.  You can’t fix those things by taking pills.

If you could leave an imprint on the field of public health it would be?
I would be a constant reminder to people to be aware of what really matters. I would have the greatest influence I can and act on things within my control.